Dr Atwine urges medics to take up operational research

MBARARA– The Permanent Secretary [PS] in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Diana Atwine has encouraged the medical personnel to employ operational research, which she said is important in ensuring that techniques and facilities are widely available to the patients in need.

Dr. Atwine made the call yesterday at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital [MRRH] while commissioning the histopathology laboratory funded by Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation [EGPAF], a global nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing pediatric HIV infection and eliminating pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs.

She argued that Ugandan medical should stop using research developed from outside and instead develop their own.

“As a regional referral hospital, we want to see your operation research so that we are able to answer our own questions. We do not have to depend on statistics that someone did at the University of South Africa to answer our own challenges here,” the PS said.

Atwine also encouraged capacity building through leveraging on technology and innovation to improve the quality of health service delivery in Mbarara and elsewhere.

“Now that we have the laboratory facility we can be linked with any hospital on the globe to impart our medics with more skills because the histopathology applied here can be reviewed by that in Harvard University hospital, discuss it and have exactly the same technical input,” she said.

On the question of whether MRRH should be upgraded to a national referral hospital or not, Dr Atwine challenged Dr Celestine Barigye, the hospital director, to prioritise its master plan.

“This hospital began when it was small but the numbers and services are increasing, so we need its classical master plan. We need to get away from tiny congested buildings such that we are more organised with proper signage, direction, and the hospital services are all well connected,” she said.

“Expansion of this hospital to the level of a national hospital is our wish, but it will not come now because an upgrade does not just come in. it must come with the funding, and human resources, yet our focus now is to first enhance the salaries of our health workers,” she said.

She thanked the US government for the support extended to the hospital, but at the same time warned the hospital managers to ensure that the facility donated is optimally used.

“Your support to establish this laboratory has added another brick to the service delivery in our hospital but we must optimize whatever we have efficiently, effectively,” Atwine said.

Dr Edward Bitarakwate, Country Director EGPAF said the histopathology and research laboratories project construction which started in 2015 at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, cost USAID a total of US$ 985000 [Shs 3.6 billion].

The new laboratory comprises specialized labs such as histopathology, molecular lab, mycology lab, storage lab and a training unit accommodating 5-10 people to enhance health services in the south-western region.

Bitarakwate said the specialized laboratory is one of the 40 health projects the US government has so far extended to south-western Uganda in the last two years.

He said some of the projects have supported maternal and child health, HIV/ AIDS prevention, care, treatment, and treatment of tuberculosis as well as strengthening the health systems in Uganda.

“The health system support includes not only infrastructure improvement but also support for laboratory services in all the eight districts in the southwestern region including the sample transportation system and also support to quality improvement initiatives across the region,” said Bitarakwate.

Richard Nelson, Mission Director USAID Uganda said the histopathology laboratory which is one of its kind in the region would boost the diagnostic capacity in the region.

“I am excited to see that people throughout the region will be getting their samples from here to be analysed, have the diagnosis made and treatment begin quickly to transform millions of people in this area.”

https://thecooperator.news/mbarara-hospital-receives-shs-70mln-ultrasound-scan/

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