Uganda invests sh180b in three PET scans, cancer diagnostic machines
A PET-CT scan combines metabolic information with detailed anatomical imaging. Radioactive tracers can highlight areas of increased metabolic activity, allowing doctors to investigate suspected disease and determine whether cancer has spread.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Diana Atwine. (File photo)
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The government has invested sh180b in a specialised PET and nuclear medicine facility that will house three PET machines to diagnose and manage complex cancers.
Currently, hundreds of Ugandans seek tests in Kenya and beyond.
A PET-CT scan combines metabolic information with detailed anatomical imaging. Radioactive tracers can highlight areas of increased metabolic activity, allowing doctors to investigate suspected disease and determine whether cancer has spread.
On Thursday, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Diana Atwine, said the new facility is expected to address needs for specialised imaging and other tests.
“We expect the first PET machine to be fully functional by the end of the year.
The project will also include a cyclotron, which produces the radioactive isotopes and tracers required for PET imaging, as well as nuclear medicine treatment facilities and cold-kit production units,” Atwine said.
Meanwhile, the SPECT scan has already been installed as part of the project.
The investment comes amid renewed attention to Uganda’s cancer diagnostic capacity, with specialists warning that the absence of advanced imaging has left some patients dependent on referrals to countries with more specialised facilities.
Government is also expanding interventional radiology, endoscopy and colonoscopy suites at the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), alongside inpatient and outpatient facilities and radiotherapy services.
Atwine said regional cancer centres are also being developed in Arua, Mbale and Mbarara, while the Gulu centre is already operational. The 2026/27 national budget indicates that the first phase of the Nuclear Medicine PET Centre is 95% complete, while the second phase is 10% complete.
For years, Ugandan cancer patients who require PET-CT imaging have had to travel to countries such as Kenya and India. Prof Robert Kalyesubula, a health advocate and Makerere University lecturer, said the absence of advanced diagnostic capacity makes it difficult for doctors to manage some rare and complex cancers.
“You cannot diagnose if you have no diagnostic capacity,” Kalyesubula said.
He said Uganda needs PET-CT because patients are being referred abroad for tests to establish the type and stage of cancer.
New Vision has learned that Ugandan patients are charged between $500 - $1000 (sh1.9 million to 3.9 million) for a complete PET scan in Kenya, and at times it goes to $1500-2000 (about sh5.8 to sh7.8 million) in India and the US for just a scanner test.
Dr Noleb Mugisha, head of the Community Cancer Services Department at UCI, however, cautioned against presenting PET-CT as a machine that simply detects cancer.
“Cancer diagnosis is made by a human being. The machines are tools we use to identify what we suspect to be cancer,” Mugisha said.
He said the biggest value of PET-CT is often in staging and determining how far a confirmed cancer has spread.
Mugisha said UCI sometimes refers patients to Nairobi, India and other countries when doctors require information that cannot be obtained locally.
He said the technology is particularly important in cases involving small, hidden, rare or difficult-to-distinguish cancers.
A patient whose tumour marker continues to rise, for example, may require advanced imaging when conventional investigations have failed to locate the disease.
Mugisha said Uganda still lacks some advanced laboratory and molecular tests needed to determine the precise characteristics of cancers and guide treatment.
“We can know that this is breast cancer, but we need to know the exact type of this cancer and know the exact cancerous areas and the exact drug to use. Some tests, including certain genetic investigations, are still sent outside the country,” he said.
Dr Henry Ddungu, a consultant haematologist and head of oncology at UCI, said cancer diagnosis starts with a patient’s history and symptoms and cannot be reduced to imaging alone.
He said some cancers are difficult to screen for early because they do not have reliable warning signs or biomarkers.
“Some cancers are particularly difficult to screen for because there are no reliable early warning signs or biomarkers,” Ddungu said.
He said pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, brain tumours, lymphomas and leukaemia can present particular diagnostic challenges, while common cancers such as breast and cervical cancer have more established screening approaches.
The diagnostic limitations have also featured in discussions surrounding the reported case of Tooro King Oyo, who died after being diagnosed with the rare cancer angiosarcoma.
Kalyesubula said angiosarcoma is extremely rare, occurring in about one to three people per million, and cautioned against using the King’s case alone to accuse individual doctors of misdiagnosis.
Ddungu similarly said rare cancers can initially present with symptoms associated with more common illnesses. The specialists stressed that PET-CT should therefore be viewed as one part of a wider cancer diagnostic system rather than a standalone solution.
“We should not only have machines. We need people who understand the technology, who have been trained properly because at some time we send our findings to experts abroad for proof interpretation,” Ddungu said.
The government’s Shs180b project is therefore expected to combine advanced imaging with nuclear medicine, radiotherapy, and other specialised cancer services as Uganda seeks to expand diagnosis and treatment within the country.