Uganda Heart Institute

Location

The Institute is located on Mulago Hill in the northern part of the city of Kampala. It sits within the Mulago Hospital Complex, the teaching hospital of the Makerere University College of Health Sciences. This location is approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi), by road, north-east of the central business district of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. The coordinates of the Institute are 0°20'17.0"N, 32°34'31.0"E (Latitude:0.338056; Longitude:32.575278).

Overview

The Uganda Heart Institute is the specialized unit within the Mulago National Referral Hospital that diagnoses, treats, and manages heart diseases, including birth abnormalities, infections, heart attacks, and heart surgery. The unit is semi-autonomous and is headed by a director and supervised by the Ministry of Health. The board of directors of the Institute is composed of leading politicians, government consultants, businesspeople, university professors, cardiologists, and cardiothoracic surgeons in Uganda. In recognition of its special status as a super specialist facility, a bill is pending before parliament which when enacted will transform it into a fully autonomous institution.

History

In 1988, the Uganda Heart Foundation, in collaboration with the Uganda Ministry of Health, Makerere University and Mulago National Referral Hospital, started the Uganda Heart Institute, using space provided on Ward 1C, in the New Mulago Hospital Complex. This resurrected plans to establish a specialized cardiac unit at Mulago, began in 1958, but were killed in 1972, with the expulsion of the Ugandan Asians by dictator Idi Amin. Since 1988, the Institute has received valuable contribution from national and international donors including the Rotary Club. Media reports indicate that of the 1.5 million children born every year in Uganda, about 15,000 have heart defects at birth (congenital heart abnormalities). Of those, about 8,000 children require corrective surgeries. Uganda's only heart institute has the capacity to perform only 1,000 heart operations annually. That leaves a backlog of 7,000 youngsters every year.

Expansion plans

Beginning in August 2015, the Government of Uganda plans to break ground for a new 200 bed hospital to be named Uganda Institute of Cardiothoracic Diseases, to replace the current Uganda Heart Institute. The new hospital will have three operating theatres, cardiac catheterization laboratories, an Intensive Care Unit, and research facilities. The construction will be funded by a US$64.9 million (UGX:169 billion) loan from the Islamic Development Bank. It is anticipated that the Institute will seek financial autonomy to raise funds, hire staff, pay salaries, and procure supplies, independent of Mulago Hospital, similar to the autonomy enjoyed by the Uganda Cancer Institute.

Board of directors

As of February 2013, the following individuals constituted the board of directors of the Institute:

List of medical directors of UHI

The following cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons have served as the director of the Uganda Heart Institute since its foundation in 1988:

1. Francis Omaswa, cardiovascular surgeon, 1988 - 1998
2. Roy Mugerwa, cardiologist, 1998 - 2008
3. John Omagino, cardiothoracic surgeon, since 2008