MBARARA
The reputation of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital one of 17 Regional Referral Hospitals the Ministry of Health boasts of has continued to grow by leaps and bounds.
This time, the narrative has shifted to performance of very high risky operation of separation of semiase twins which took the media by storm last year to initiation of highly specialized services not found in any other Regional Referral Hospital on the land.
As a result, the image of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital commonly known as Mbarara Hospital which is led by the Hospital Director Dr. Celestine Barigye is now being sold across the globe.
Yesterday, the hospital Administration led by Senior Hospital Administrator Mr. Francis Ojom, Principal Nursing Officer Ms. Juilet Ankunda and the Hospital Public Relations Officer Halson Kagure hosted a big team of International Development Students of the University of Manchester led by their Supervisor Dr. Gindo Tampubolon who doubles as a senior Don at 6th best University in the United Kingdom & 38th ranked varsity out of over 25000 Universities in the World as per current rankings.
During the presentation Dr. Gindo said he was surprised to learn that Mbarara Hospital offers super specialized services such as neurosurgery among others that require a great deal of expertise.
He said that it gives the Ministry of Health a plus to find that a regional referral hospital can perform incredible surgeries.
In a guided tour , Dr Gindo and his students were taken to various units in the Hospital which doubles as a teaching affiliate of Mbarara University of Science and Technology.
At the new state of art COVID-19 Treatment Unit which is according to the Hospital Management is likely to be renamed to the Infectious Diseases Treatment Unit, Dr Gindo was fascinated by the 32 bed capacity Center where all cases of infectious Diseases are currently handled.
According to Dr Gindo, the Hospital Administration led by Dr Celestine Barigye took a wise decision to construct the Infectious Diseases Unit away from the main hospital for the safety of other patients with different medical conditions.
He applauded the preparedness the hospital shown by the hospital to handle epidemics.
Francis Ojom, the Mbarara Referral Hospital Senior Administrator said that much as the University of Manchester don appreciated their services they are still grappling with the problem of limited space for expansion.
“We ably understand that most of the Hospital land was occupied by the sister institution ( Mbarara University of Science and Technology) especially where the nursing school was,” he said
Ojomo added that much as the Mbarara University got a huge chunk of land in Kihumuro, there have been unwillingness to shift the entire institution to give away to Mbarara Referral Hospital which actually gave birth to MUST in 1989 to spread it’s wings.
Occasionally, Dr Celestine Barigye the Hospital boss has argued that the University has outgrown the Hospital in terms of expansion which government aught to look into before the Hospital is made a national referral Hospital.
The Hospital Public Relations Officer Halson Kagure says the fact that high ranking universities on the globe have started associating themselves with Mbarara Referral Hospital out of many Hospitals in the country, it means a lot in areas of research, health & education collaboration. Kagure added that apparently the Hospital has about 40 specialists services which aren’t found in other hospitals of its caliber.
“ We receive referrals from other Regional Referrals, refugee communities, neighbouring countries like Tanzania, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi because of highly specialized services. So it would be of great imperative if government expedites the initial plans to revamp the hospital and make it a national referral “, says Halson Kagure.
Kagure added that when the president laid a foundation stone that resulted into the only building complex that houses Op
