Africa-Press – Uganda. The government has commissioned the construction of a satellite laboratory for the Western region to strengthen the national system for public emergency preparedness.
The project, which will be implemented by the Ministry of Health under the Uganda Covid-19 Response and Emergency Preparedness Project (UCREPP), is financed by the World Bank and the International Development Association.
The works will cost Shs4.037 billion while equipping the laboratory will cost Shs1.3 billion. Construction works by AZU Properties Limited are expected to last for 15 months.
The laboratory, which is being constructed at Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital, will conduct tests and give results that are internationally recognised.
The State Minister for Primary Healthcare, Ms Margaret Muhanga, said Fort Portal is a strategic place since it neighbours DR Congo, where there have been epidemics such as Ebola and Mulburge.
“This laboratory will diagnose all human diseases and give results in the shortest period of time, including testing for viruses that we have been getting from DR Congo. The results from this laboratory will be internationally recognised and now patients will be saved the cost of travelling to Kampala for specialised testing,” she said on Tuesday during the commissioning.
The Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital director, Dr Alex Adaku, said the new laboratory will increase the number of services offered at the hospital.
He said currently the facility operates within a limited space, adding that some equipment government procured are unable to fit in the available space.
“This laboratory will improve on the hub system because we shall be able to collect samples from communities and after we test them, we shall do research and provide services where we need the expertise of a pathologist,” he said.
Dr Adaku said they are currently unable to offer detailed screening for cancer as the facility lacks pathologist personnel.
The laboratory will have components of a biorepository, phlebotomy, blood bank, serology, haematology, parasitology, molecular biology, immunology, histology, microbiology and TB laboratory.
The Assistant Commissioner-in-charge of Reproductive and Infant Health in the Ministry of Health, Dr Richard Mugahi, said the government intends to make all regional referral hospitals functional to decongest national referral hospitals.
“We no longer want to see patients being referred to Kampala, we want all cases to be handled at regional referral hospitals,” he said.
Dr Adaku said the facility lacks radiologists to operate the CT scan that was recently installed at the facility, adding that they have sent two of their staff for further studies to get the required skills.
“Our CT scan is installed, tested, and functional but we are still waiting for a licence from the Automatic energy council, which the Ministry of Health is working on and also the ministry is working on backup system since we cannot interpret the images produced by the scan, so that we can send them to a central place and be interpreted by a radiologist and sent to us again,” he said.
Dr Adaku added that the facility faces other challenges such as the breakdown of the oxygen plant, and lack of an emergency unit.
The hospital board chairperson, Mr Tom Rubare, said the region is prone to earthquakes and there is a need for an emergency unit.
“Last year, when we had the Link bus road crash, many patients were attended to in tents for Covid-19, the one we have [emergency unit] was donated to us by the KRC organisation, which is small,” he said.
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