Beyond rendering services to the population of its dominion which comprises twelve districts and one city, Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH) has stretched beyond its confines.
Currently, the institution whose existence dates way back to the 1930s looks after patients outside Ankole region; its primary catchment area.
Ankole region is made up of twelve districts and one city with an estimated catchment population of over 4.5million people.
Over the years, MRRH has had to cope with the growing number of clients it serves owing to the exponential growth in specialized services offered.
Currently, MRRH boasts of about forty specialized services and its affiliation with Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) has further paved way to the provision of super-specialized services offered beyond the mandate of a regional hospital of its level in Uganda.one case in point, the Head of the Department of Surgery at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital notes that the Department at the Hospital has seven specialty units. These include; Neuro-Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Plastic and Reconstruction Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, Urology, Cardio-Thoracic and Vascular Surgery and General Surgery.
Additionally, the Directorate of Surgery extends to the Department of ENT and Dental, Maxillo-Facial Surgery, alongside the Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care.
Dr Dan Kisitu Kyengera, the Head of the Department of Surgery at MRRH/MUST, says the complex surgery specialties touch the lines of Brain and Spinal Cord Surgery, Bones and Joint Surgery, Chest and Heart related and Vascular surgery, Neonatal surgery, and Ophthalmic Surgery, among others.
To Dr. Kisitu, such highly advanced technological surgical operations aren’t provided for in the policy package for a regional referral hospital in Uganda.
According to Dr. Celestine Barigye, the Hospital Director of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, the dream to transform the hospital into a one-stop center offering super-specialized services is taking shape. In the last financial year, the hospital, which emerged second to Mulago Hospital in performing surgical operations, took the country by surprise. This occurred after a team of medical specialists, led by Dr. Deus Twesigye, a Senior Consultant General Surgeon, performed a very high-level technological surgical operation in the separation of Siamese twins.
Dr. Barigye notes that the determination to revolutionize MRRH into a Center of Excellence in offering top-notch services is unstoppable. ‘We are looking at super-specializing, and as the hospital, we no longer want to provide only general services. The body is so vast, and you can’t generalize it. When you look at the eye, it’s very complicated, and we have a ‘whole hospital’ here dealing with the eye,’ he says.
Dr Barigye made these revelations as a team of specialists performed groundbreaking heart surgeries on seven children at the Western Uganda’s biggest facility courtesy of Uganda Heart Institute (UHI).
The beneficiaries of closed-heart operations had long been grappling with Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA), a congenital heart defect associated with a persistent opening diverting blood flow between two major blood vessels leading from the heart. This can be detrimental as it affects oxygen flow and availability to most of the body.
On Tuesday of last week, Dr. John Omangino, the Executive Director, acknowledged that Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital is changing the terrain of health services. He decried the shocking burden of congenital heart diseases in children in need of super-specialized services, adding that out of the 1.6 million children born in Uganda annually, at least 160,000 babies have the condition.
Dr. Elias Kumbakumba, Head of Pediatrics and Child Health at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, receives about 500 admissions with heart conditions, of which 50 of them are congenital defects. However, the hospital has not been conducting surgical operations for children with heart disease. With the start of these heart operations, hope is restored to parents and children with these heart conditions.
The hospital has been offering surgical operations to other children with abnormal formations in the body, such as anal-rectal malformations, cleft lip and palate, spina bifida, and hydrocephalus. Additionally, Neonatal Intensive Care services are being provided at Mbarara Regional Hospital, awaiting the Government’s plans to build and equip a fully-fledged Neonatal Unit in the Hospital.
Amidst all the prevailing challenges, the hospital has been able to reduce the Neonatal Fatality Rate from 20% to 7% in 2023 over the past five years. Dr. Kumbakumba attributes this improvement to the establishment of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the Kangaroo Mother Care Unit, which have enhanced infrastructure.
Laboratory Services:
The hospital has built two robust laboratory units to provide the highest quality laboratory services in western Uganda. The Hospital Laboratory offers over 100 laboratory tests, including super-specialized investigations.
This has attracted over 300 clients from within and outside the traditional catchment area of the Regional Hospital. Recently, the Hospital’s Clinical Laboratory was listed among the world’s accredited laboratory service providers by the South African National Accreditation System.
Mr. Robert Wagubi, the Laboratory Manager, expressed appreciation to the American People through USAID’s Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital Strengthening Activity for facilitating the accreditation processes and addressing non-conformities to complete the accreditation process by the end of this month.
In June of last year, USAID completed and handed over a state-of-the-art Research and Histopathology Laboratory at the Hospital. This laboratory was inaugurated by the USAID Mission Director, Mr. Richard Nelson, and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Diana Atwine.
The new laboratory is an extension of the Main Laboratory, which was constructed by the Government of Uganda through the East African Public Health Laboratory Network and funded by the World Bank. It provides a wide range of advanced diagnostic services, enabling clients to receive faster results within the Hospital.
Furthermore, the Ugandan government has equipped Mbarara Hospital with the latest Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scanners to enhance capacity in disease detection, diagnosis, and guide patient management.
As Uganda marks 61 years of Independence, there is a need to officially elevate Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital to a National Referral Hospital to correspond to the scope and level of health services currently being delivered. No other Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda can aspire to achieve this status in the foreseeable future.
This article can also be accessed in the Uganda at 61 Magazine on pages 84 to 86.
About the Author(s): Compiled by: Halson Kagure, Public Relations Officer, Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital. Edited by: Dr. Oriokot Francis, Senior Consultant/Paediatrics and Child Health, Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital.
