St Francis Naggalama hospital in Mukono district has acquired a shs2.7 billion CT scan machine that will be used to examine complications in head, chest, abdomen, limbs and spine at the hospital.
On Monday, the hospital handed over the facility that will house the scan machine to the Joint Medical Stores to renovate it inline with Atomic Council requirements to prevent emission of radiations before the machine is installed in November.
Speaking during the function, the hospital Administrator, Sister Jane Frances Nakafeero said annually, they receive over 53,000 patients in their outpatient department and over 300 of these are referred for scan services.
According to Benon Mugerwa, a medical officer at the facility despite getting many patients who need CT scan services, they are not able to offer them because of the absence of the machine.
“The districts between Jinja and Kampala have been facing a lot of challenges to get CT scan services and this meant that patients had to either be referred to Jinja hospital or Mulago in Kampala. We realised there was need for Naggalama to buy and install this machine to come to the need of the public,”Mugerwa said.
He noted that the installation of the CT scan machine will ease the diagnosis of illnesses such as muscle and bone disorders; tumors and fractures whose absence has been straining them and had to be referred to other hospitals.
“We are hopeful that the installation of the CT scan machine will help the hospital streamline and improve the capacity for diagnosis and treatment of patients.”
Kenneth Rubango, the Director for Biomedical Engineering at the Joint Medical Stores said they have decided to come to the help of the hospitals to help build its capacity to carryout diagnosis for various complications.
He noted that by installing the CT scan machine, the hospital will help serve over 300,000 Ugandans within the five districts near Naggalama hospital.
The CT scan will also have capacity of tele radiography thereby facilitating the interpretation of images by seasoned experts from Kampala.
