𝙀𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮’𝙨 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣'𝙨 𝙎𝙪𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙃𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙀𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙗𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩

EMERGENCY’s Children’s Surgical Hospital in Uganda has begun clinical activities. The first patients, Ramadhan, Topista, Justine, Katongole, Matovu and Jordan, are between 3 and 11 years old, and were hospitalised for a range of medical conditions concerning the genital area, gastrointestinal tract, and supraumbilical hernias. 

The new facility was designed pro bono by Renzo Piano, one of the world’s leading architects. After a meeting with Gino Strada, surgeon and founder of EMERGENCY, the two came together to create a stateof-the-art hospital where paediatric surgery meets with architecture of the highest level to create a facility where children from across the African continent can be referred for free, high-quality treatment. Situated on the banks of Lake Victoria, almost 4,000 feet (1,200 m) above sea level, EMERGENCY’s Children’s Surgical Hospital opened its doors on Monday 19 April. 

The facility, located in Entebbe, has been ready for a year now, but the opening was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our first patient finally set foot in the centre on Monday. Ramadhan is almost three years old and needed an operation on his genital area. He was the first of many, many children who will receive surgery here, for birth defects, urological and gynaecological problems, gastrointestinal tract issues, diseases of the bile duct, and cleft lip. At full capacity, the hospital will employ 385 local people, 179 of whom are medical workers. 

The ratio of local to foreign staff is four to one amongst the surgeons, nurses, pharmacists and technicians, while 95% of non-medics are Ugandan. The hospital will be dedicated to training Ugandan staff, who will go on to improve paediatric surgery and medical care in Uganda.

‘The country is not short of medical facilities or even a culture of medicine. What it needs is international collaboration, to provide continuous secondary and tertiary medical care to more of its people and to train specialists. The choice we made for the hospital was to create a referral point in Uganda for paediatric elective surgery, both general and specialist, so we could arrange transfers of little patients from around the country and abroad,’ adds Rossella Miccio, president of 

EMERGENCY.

“The opening of the hospital is a major milestone for the children of Uganda and the region at large. The facility will offer high-quality free paediatric surgeries for children in Uganda and across the region. This is part of a deliberate effort by government to strengthen the healthcare system, reduce medical referrals abroad and improve health service delivery for our children. This facility will also be a landmark for Uganda as a referral destination for paediatric surgeries and training centre for our critical workforce. I would like to appreciate EMERGENCY and all our partners that have made this hospital a reality,” says Dr Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, Minister of Health. 

The hospital constructed by Government of Uganda with support from Emergency NGO based in Italy has a capacity of 72 beds, 6 of which will be in the intensive care unit and 16 in the post-intensive unit.

Hospital facilities will include the following departments:

1. Emergency department – open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

2. Outpatients department (OPD) – screening, follow up and specialized consultations open from 8am to 4pm, 6 days a week

3. Diagnostic tests department – open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

4. Blood bank

5. Operating Theatres (3) and Sterilization

6. 6 bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

7. Ward (50 beds)

8. Pharmacy

9. Administration

10. Technical department

11. Ancillary and domestic services (laundry, maintenance, etc.)

12. Guesthouse for regional patients and relatives (40 people)