Lubaga Hospital has commissioned a specialised transplant theatre that will soon carry out offer kidney, liver, and cornea transplants.
The facility, which was commissioned on Monday, 14 August 2023, by the Director General of Health Services in the Ministry of Health, Dr Henry Mwebesa, was constructed at a cost of Shs1 billion.
Speaking at the commissioning of the facility, Dr Mwebesa said the new facility, which has been named after the late Dr. Rita Moser, the first medical superintendent of Lubaga Hospital, will relieve Ugandans of the high cost of organ transplants that they have been carrying out from abroad.
“We have been sending patients to South Africa, America, and India, among other countries. I have been clearing about six patients who need to undergo kidney transplants on a weekly basis and from the documents, I see one patient requires $ 17,000 (about Shs60m) for the transplant alone,” Dr Mwebesa said.
He revealed that they are just now awaiting for the Uganda Organ Donation and Organ Transplant Council to assess the facility to ensure that it is up to standards.
He emphasized that the hospitals in the country that are ready to undertake organ and tissue transplants will do so after they have been cleared by the Organ Transplant Council to be set up by the Health minister.
“A law was put in place and assented to by the President on March 15; it became effective on August 1, 2023, but we must have a council to assess the readiness of these hospitals,” Dr Mwebesa said.
Dr Michael Okello, the Director of the Organ Transplant Theatre at Lubaga Hospital, said once they are cleared by the council, they will offer kidney, liver, and cornea transplants.
Dr Okello said cost of transplants would be determined by management but that it will be lower than what they have been spending abroad.
Dr Julius Luyimbazi, the Executive Director of Lubaga Hospital, said a big number of patients in various hospitals are on dialysis, which is quite expensive, and that bringing organ transplant services closer would relieve them from the burden.
Kampala Archbishop Paul Ssemogerere said organ transplants done abroad have been a preserve for the wealthy Ugandans and that the new initiative would enable the poor to access similar services in Uganda.
In September 2022, Parliament passed the Uganda Human Organ Donation and Transplant Bill 2022 setting tough penalties for dealing in human organs for commercial purposes.
On September 29 last year, Parliament passed the Uganda Human Organ and Transplant Bill, 2021, which was to establish a legal framework for the regulation of organ, cell, and tissue donation and transplantation in Uganda.
A law was put in place and assented to by the President on March 15 and it became effective on August 1.
The Act seeks to regulate the conduct of donation and transplant activities in the country.
In an attempt to prevent vices associated with human organ donation and transplantation, Parliament approved a life sentence for persons who deal in human organs and tissue for commercial purposes.
In addition, the law prescribes life imprisonment with no option to pay one’s way out for child organ traffickers.
