In short
Dr. Dan Baliwo Nsereko, the Deputy Director Jinja Regional Referral hospital, says the facility can accommodate 50 patients but lacks equipment and staff to run it.
The Jinja Regional Referral hospital cancer treatment centre has remained under lock and key since its refurbishment in February 2015, URN has learnt.
The centre was refurbished with support from Twegaite International Organization; a US based non-government organization bringing together Ugandans from Busoga region and their friends in the diaspora.
The centre was refurbished in response to government's plans to decentralize cancer screening and treatment. However, the centre has remained under lock and key leaving cancer patients with nowhere to turn for help.
Dr Dan Baliwo Nsereko, the Deputy Director of Jinja Regional Referral hospital, says the facility can accommodate 50 patients but lacks equipment and staff to run it. According to Dr Nsereko, the centre needs an oncologist, a surgeon and at least three nurses.
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He says currently all suspected cancer patients are referred to Uganda Cancer Institute-UCI for treatment.
James Wako, a prostate cancer patient from Namulesa village, says he spends at least 50,000 Shillings to travel to UCI for treatment, adding that at times he has to wait for days when the institute lacks some drugs.
"It is very expensive for me to travel every month to get drugs as simple as Morphine. If Jinja ward was operational, I would be happy," he said. Jinja Regional Referral Hospital serves over 60,000 people in the districts of Jinja, Iganga, Kamuli, Bugiri and Buyende among others.
The centre was refurbished with support from Twegaite International Organization; a US based non-government organization bringing together Ugandans from Busoga region and their friends in the diaspora.
The centre was refurbished in response to government's plans to decentralize cancer screening and treatment. However, the centre has remained under lock and key leaving cancer patients with nowhere to turn for help.
Dr Dan Baliwo Nsereko, the Deputy Director of Jinja Regional Referral hospital, says the facility can accommodate 50 patients but lacks equipment and staff to run it. According to Dr Nsereko, the centre needs an oncologist, a surgeon and at least three nurses.
//Cue in: "At any one...
Cue out...as a district hospital,"//
He says currently all suspected cancer patients are referred to Uganda Cancer Institute-UCI for treatment.
James Wako, a prostate cancer patient from Namulesa village, says he spends at least 50,000 Shillings to travel to UCI for treatment, adding that at times he has to wait for days when the institute lacks some drugs.
"It is very expensive for me to travel every month to get drugs as simple as Morphine. If Jinja ward was operational, I would be happy," he said. Jinja Regional Referral Hospital serves over 60,000 people in the districts of Jinja, Iganga, Kamuli, Bugiri and Buyende among others.
