Dr. Nyakoojo succumbs to cancer

Dr. Wilson Nyakoojo, a senior consultant cardiologist at the Uganda Heart Institute (UHI) is dead.

According to a family member, Nyakoojo died at his home in Mpererwe along Gayaza road in the city suburbs of Kawempe division on Monday afternoon.

His professional colleague and friend, Dr. Jackson Orem, described Nyakoojo as a very down to earth doctor, who was highly qualified and helpful to the young doctors by teaching them the medical trade.

Orem said Nyakoojo had for some time battled with liver cancer and he was undergoing treatment at the Uganda Cancer Institute, which he (Orem heads).

"Even when he fell sick, he declined to go out for treatment. He preferred to be treated here by his colleagues. That shows you how down to earth he was. We will miss his contributions to the profession," Orem stated.

Speaking about him, the Mulago hospital administrator, David Niwamanya, said; "we will miss a great doctor; a cardiologist. It is a sad moment for us at the hospital."

Niwamanya, who said details of the burial programme were still unknown to the hospital reminisced how Nyakoojo used to call himself "the last son of Kabalega."

Nyakoojo had a degree in medicine, a post-graduate certificate in Internal Medicine, and a PhD in medicine (cardiology), with a thesis on immunological (cellular & humoral), in ischaemic heart disease patients with and without diabetes mellitus.

He was a fellow of Interventional Cardiology, a member of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in the  Ministry of Health, as well as a member of the health ministry's task force for the formulation of Health Policy.

He was also a member of; the International Union For Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE), the Uganda Medical Association, the World Heart Failure, the Uganda Heart Association, the Uganda Heart Research Foundation, and the Pan African Society of Cardiologists (PASCAR).

He was also a member of; the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), the Revising and Publishing Committee of (Management of Non Communicable Disease - Cardiovascular Chapter) in Uganda Hospitals and a founding Member Africa Percutaneous Cardiac Revascularization (PCR).

Nyakoojo attended Rostov State Medical University, also known as Rostov State Medical Institute, Russia, for his bachelor's and master's degrees from the late 1980s to early 1990s. Dr. John Mugisa, a public health consultant, who completed his bachelor's degree at Kuban State Medical University, in Krasnodar, Russia, said Nyakooja left (Russia) in 1992 after completing his master's degree in internal medicine. 

"I met him in Russia when I was also a student there. He was doing his second degree. He was the secretary of the Ugandan students Union in Rostov city. He had returned to Russia for his second degree after completing his first degree in the same country earlier," he added. 

Mugisa, who was the chairman of the union of Ugandan students in the former Soviet Union, said Nyakoojo worked at Jinja referral hospital before he was transferred to the Uganda Heart Institute. At the PhD level, Nyakoojo specialized in interventional cardiology, according to Mugisa. Nyakooja hailed from Masindi district.  

 The Bunyoro affairs ministry, Ernest Kiiza, said the country has lost one of the best cardiologists. "We have lost a gallant son. He is one the few best cardiologists I know. He treated my mother for a very long time and my other relatives," he added.