The Italian government through its Embassy in Uganda has pledged to support Gulu Regional Referral Hospital with € 120,000 (about 448.801 million shillings) that will go towards the procurement of radiology equipment at the hospital.
This was announced by Domenico Fornara, the Italian Ambassador to Uganda while commissioning a multi million shillings radiology unit at the government hospital in Gulu town on Friday.
The unit was funded by the Italian government through its development agency the Italian corporation to the tune of € 250,000.
Fornara explained that the € 120,000 will be used to secure radiology equipment for the new unit.
The Italian Ambassador revealed that within the next one week, a team of medical engineers from Italy will visit the hospital in order to assess the list of requirements for the new facility.
The Ambassador said money for the equipment has already been secured and in the next two or three months, the equipment will be delivered at the hospital.
Dr Nathan Onyaci, the Director of the hospital says the once the equipment is in place, it will improve services at the hospital.
Dr Onyaci noted that currently, the regional referral is lacking radiology equipment such as CT scan machine, x-ray machines and others that will be used in the intensive care unit.
According to Dr Onyaci the machines will help doctors in early detection and treatment of diseases.
Health Minister, Dr Elioda Tumwesigye who was present during the commissioning of the radiology unit said government is at the advanced stage of procuring a loan from the Austrian government in order to equip regional hospitals such Mbale, Gulu, Arua and Mbarara.
According to Dr Dr Tumwesigye, the loan will be used to purchase medical supplies such as Ultrasonography machine, X-ray, Contrast media for X-rays, Computer axial tomography scan (CT Scan)/(CAT Scan), Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Linear accelerator among othes.
Dr Tumwesigye revealed that Mbale hospital will be the first beneficiary followed by Gulu regional hospital.
The Minister explained that the focus of the government is to offer efficient and early treatment of diseases to its citizens instead of managing illnesses such as a cancer.
