Uganda can export cancer specialists - health minister

May 06, 2018

The Uganda Cancer Institute was chosen the centre of excellence for oncology in East Africa.

PIC: State minister for general duties Sarah Opendi (right) chatting with a member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre

HEALTH


KAMPALA - The health state minister for general duties, Sarah Opendi, has urged the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) to borrow a leaf from Cuba such that they can train more specialists for export.

"I appeal to the board members to turn the UCI into an institute of training oncologists for not only Uganda, but also the region and other countries - just like Cuba is training doctors and sending them to other countries," she said.

The minister said with adequate resources, the cancer institute can become the "Cuba of Africa".

She was speaking to cancer experts at the launch of a training programme of Adult Haematology Oncology Fellowship in Kampala on Friday.

Opendi, however, said the government would not hesitate to import Cuban cancer specialists if there was a gap at UCI.

Her comments come in the wake of growing debate over the government's idea of importing medics from Cuba to support the local health system.

On Tuesday, while presiding over Labour Day national celebrations in Sembabule district, President Yoweri Museveni spoke out publicly about the touchy issue.

He said he thought of bringing in doctors from the Carribean island nation following a strike by "selfish" and "unprofessional" doctors several weeks before.

The proposal is a divisive one, with critics saying the government should instead focus on enhancing the salaries of the local medics. Some are also critical of the existing local health infrastructure.

Meawhile, the Uganda Cancer Institute was chosen the centre of excellence for oncology in East Africa.

This means that the institute, which has been a national referral in cancer management, will now turn into a regional referral, accepting patients from the six nations that form the East African Community (EAC).

The nations are Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

Recently, through UCI, the government received a $35m (about sh114bn) loan to set up the institute.

Kenya was also recently selected as the EAC's centre of excellence in managing kidney disease while Tanzania was picked the community's centre of excellence in handling heart disease. 

Rwanda was chosen for biomedical sciences.

Dr Ekwaro Obuku, the president of Uganda Medical Association, said training more specialists will enable Ugandan doctors stand a high potential of exporting their labour overseas.

Maids and security guards are already on demand in the Middle East.

"With Brexit dynamics and an aging population in the global north, doctors in the younger global south are highly sought-after. Sudan, Egypt and South Africa have exported doctors outside Africa, profitably," Obuku said.

In the recent past, there have been major challenges in training health experts. Some doctors are trained abroad and therefore labour is lost as they do not return for their practice.

UCI's Dr. Abraham Omoding says the institute now boasts of training 20 cancer specialists. However, the number of cancer patients has increased from 1,000 to 5,000 new cases annually.

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