Government Clarifies on Mulago Kidney Transplant
By Our reporter
PARLIAMENT – Government has allowed only five kidney transplant procedures to be conducted at the Mulago National Referral Hospital, as the country concludes plans to operationalise the Organ Transplant facility. The procedure will be offered at no cost to patients with severe kidney disease, undergoing dialysis.
Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja, revealed this during the Prime Minister’s Question Time during the plenary sitting chaired by Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa, on Thursday, 15 February 2024.
Nabbanja was responding to the Central Youth Representative, Hon. Agnes Kirabo, who had complained about the cost of a kidney transplant at Mulago Hospital. Kirabo noted that a kidney transplant costs Shs46 million, which she said was untenable for ordinary citizens.
Nabbanja reiterated that Shs46 million was a media-generated figure and that the Government has not yet established the cost of a kidney transplant.
“The Government has not yet set the cost and our plan through the Mulago team is to determine the price after more transplants have been made to get the right picture for the cost implication,” she said.
The premier pledged that after a thorough assessment of all that entails the entire process of kidney transplant and full recovery of a patient, a reasonable figure shall be derived and Ugandans shall be informed.
She was nevertheless pleased that the first kidney transplant successfully conducted at Mulago in December 2023 by Ugandan doctors and experts from India, gives hope that the government is moving towards saving its citizens from the heavy bills of traveling abroad for transplants.
“The cost of running specialised services is extremely expensive and such services have been costing Ugandans over the US$18,000 on average excluding the cost of ticket and maintenance abroad. The success story of Mulago Hospital in correcting this health condition will save Ugandans from travelling to India and other countries for kidney transplants,” said Nabbanja.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni recently met and held discussions with a group of surgeons from Mulago National Referral Hospital who performed the first ever kidney transplant in Uganda at the facility.
The group that paid a courtesy call on President Museveni at State House, Entebbe, was led by the Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng.
The Minister informed the President about the historic first ever organ transplant to the patient, Kiyemba Mark Maurice of Munyonyo, Kampala, who received the kidney that was donated by his brother Steven Mpagi.
The operation was performed by surgeons led by Professor Frank Asiimwe in collaboration with the visiting doctors from Yashoda Hospitals in India led by Dr. A. Sashi Kiran.
President Museveni congratulated Mulago surgeons as well as doctors from India for the successful operation.
He also pledged to support them in achieving their desired goals of self-sustainability in both human resources and the required equipment.
Dr. Aceng thanked President Museveni for his unwavering support of the Ministry of Health but requested additional assistance in the areas of training more kidney specialists and transplant surgeons, as well as the provision of modern equipment.
