Africa-Press – Uganda. The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Thomas Tayebwa, has asked the Education ministry to consider relocating a nurses hostel constructed behind the radiotherapy banker at the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI).
He said this will help avert cancer radiation risks.
“I have seen radiation bankers next to a perceived hostel for our nurses. We are going to link up with the Ministry of Health and the Prime Minister to ensure that we integrate our planning. This is all health, this is all sickness,” he said during a guided tour of the institution yesterday.
Dr Jackson Orem, the executive director of Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), said: “That building is next to what we call a radiotherapy facility [which] emits radiation which can also cause problems including cancer. [So] if you are going to put students to sit next to a radiotherapy bank [and] if there is leakage, that means those students are at risk.”
Radiotherapy is a field that uses complex technologies, including radiation for the treatment of cancer.
Dr Orem said certain considerations were not taken into account when the hostel was constructed.
Risky
“The most important thing is that they are aware of the danger and the fact that they have chosen to pursue and go further [and build in the location] means that maybe they are not taking it seriously,’’ Dr Orem added.
Mr Tayebwa also directed the UCI management to investigate reports that the institution’s staff were directing patients to buy medicine from private pharmacies.
“We have received very many complaints from patients here who say you send them out to buy very expensive medicines yet I have been told that the medicines are all free and that we have all of them,” he said.
Mr Tayebwa urged the UCI management to punish those involved in extortion syndicates at the hospital.
He pledged to support the institute in creating awareness about cancer.
Prof William Bazeyo, the chairperson of the UCI board, said treatment for cancer is free contrary to what is reported on various media outlets.
“I have seen a lot [of people] in the media talking about charges, people finding no drugs. I have seen on social media, WhatsApp groups and others that it is so expensive to be in the cancer institute,”
“I want to dispel this misleading information. You have all gone through with the Deputy Speaker, you have seen the machines we have, and you have seen our pharmacy and the patients and they have interacted with some. We do not charge patients at this place. We have a V.I.P where we charge a minimum fee but it is your choice to go in that V.I.P but for every Ugandan, every patient that comes to the institute, all the laboratory tests, x-rays, radiology, chemotherapy, drugs, they are all free,” he said.
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