Mulago women's fertility hospital to start operations soon

Feb 28, 2018

is hospital will provide assisted reproductive technologies to enable infertile women bear children through a process known as In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF).

PIC: The state minister for health in charge of general duties has given hope to couples suffering from infertility, saying the Mulago Women's Fertility Hospital will open soon.(File photo)

HEALTH


KAMPALA - Women that have been struggling with infertility-related challenges will soon find relief as Mulago Women's Fertility Hospital is starting operations soon.

This will be the first public health facility providing fertility-related services; the other five in the country are all private and located within Kampala.

This hospital will provide assisted reproductive technologies to enable infertile women bear children through a process known as In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). The IVF is a process that increases the efficiency of human reproduction, which is often not efficient naturally.

The new development was revealed by the state minister of health for general duties, Sarah Opendi, during a press briefing at Media Centre on Tuesday while informing journalists about the upcoming international fertility symposium to be held in Africa, Uganda in particular, for the first time on Thursday.

Opendi said the Government is in its final stages of completing construction and putting the necessary facilities in place and by end of March or beginning of April, the facility will be operating.

"We are in the final stages of putting the necessary facilities in place, then commission the facility," Opendi said

On whether the services will be free, her response was "fertility services in Uganda are still expensive; one has to pay between sh10m and 20m to access such services in private health facilities. We are having discussions on whether the services should be free or do cost-sharing with the patients," she added

According to statistics, about 10-15% of the couples in Uganda cannot have children due to infertility.

About 75% of these are due to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which lead to blockage of fallopian tubes in women and sperm ducts among men.

On the other hand, Opendi, who is also the Tororo Woman MP, revealed that the Government is coming up with a law to regulate fertility health facilities in the country, to see how to handle issues such as sperm banks and surrogacy.

The conference will be hosted by the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS) in close partnership with the Ministry of Health and Uganda Fertility Society.

It will be under the theme: "Infertility awareness, access, capacity building and management in sub-Saharan Africa for happy families."

Opendi said the conference provides a unique opportunity for Africa's infertility care providers, trainers, researchers and policy makers to pool and share knowledge and experience with experts from across the world.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});