Doctors at Mulago National Referral Hospital have decried the delayed medical screening and financial burden as one of the main issues halting healthcare.
The increasing concern is said to have contributed to a high disease burden especially that many patients manifest their symptoms at a later stage causing major complications.
This could however be explained by the cost of surgery which remains really expensive in terms of human resource , devices and other items.
Averagely, in a private set up a major surgery can run up to Shs20m while an implant required to carry out a total hip surgery can run anywhere between $1400 for a cemented and $2500 cementless hip without other expenses
“Obviously it’s not very easy for the ordinary Ugandan to afford something like a total hip in plant, different partners together with the hospital managed to source a few that will be given out for free
but they are only three,”Dr Moses Kakyama Orthopedic surgeon alluded.
Adding, the access to the right material was still a challenge and that for the purpose of the surgical week may be what they could mainly bring was the expertise.
Over the time, the National referral hospital has trained experts in different sects to increase both on the skill set but also enable the scaling up of the services.
Most of the major and complex surgeries are routinely handled by the hospital without the need to travel abroad for any treatment.
The burden now, according to Dr Masagala, a surgeon , lies in promoting aggressive screening programmes to enable patients to get treatment in due time.
“We are getting concerned and we are thinking we need to have a very aggressive screening programme because if you are screening routinely and it’s through endoscopy and other tests hopefully we can pick all these tumours early and offer a certain treatment,” he emphasized.
Dr Rosemary Byanyima,also the acting director Mulago national referral hospital revealed how it was very important for people to carry out routine checks even when they are not sick
She noted that while surgical or medical camps offered publicity and that the health education that is sent out makes numbers turn up, a double check up annually was of great importance.
“Some times these people turn up and we examine them and really they are okay, which is very good, we should not wait to come to hospital when we are sick,” she said.
“Lets seek attention for all examination to confirm whether we are healthy and that that’s a health seeking habit that Ugandans should have and not wait for a campaign a surgical or medical camp,
Byanyima then appealed to all Ugandans to get a check up as some symptoms surface when it’s already late.
For the first day of the camp, over 1000 patients were expected by the end of the day, with major cases registered among the Nuero surgery, Ear, Nose and Throat , Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation.
