Italy Supports Department of Radiology at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital
The Ambassador of Italy, H. E. Domenico Fornara, and the Minister of Health of the Republic of Uganda, Hon. Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, inaugurated the new Radiology Department of Gulu Regional Referral Hospital (Gulu RRH) on June 19, 2018 – built and equipped entirely by the Italian cooperation.
The initiative is part of the activities of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) in Uganda, and in particular, within the framework of Aid Project n. 8472 “North Uganda Integrated Health Programme at University, Hospital and District level”.
The Initiative was articulated along three main pillars:
- Support to the didactic and research activities of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Gulu with supply of equipment and teaching tools, training medical students and district health staff and financing scientific initiatives and operating research at district level;
- Support to clinical and training activities of the two Hospitals in Gulu (Gulu Regional Referral Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor), through structural interventions and purchase of clinical equipment and;
- Support to Mental Health Services at University, Hospital and community levels, in the Districts of Gulu and Amuru, with special attention to mental health in the post-conflict realities.
The total value of the initiative is approximately Euros 2.5 million.
In this context, the construction of the new Radiology building of, which covers a surface area of over 500 square meters, was completed during the course of 2015. The building was handed over to the hospital in November of the same year.
The radiological equipment, consisting of a radiology unit with computerized data acquisition and storage of images (Digital Imaging), ultrasound machine with printing accessories and protection of electrical power supply (UPS), was provided during the year 2017. In the early months of 2018, the Uganda Atomic Energy Council approved the machinery thus allowing it to enter into full operation.
With the ceremony, the ward was handed over to the Uganda Health Authorities and can now provide radiological services, previously hardly available, to the people of Gulu and the neighboring districts, in a catchment area estimated at over 500,000 people – predominantly low-income rural families.
During his stay in Gulu, Ambassador Fornara also visited St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor, supported by the Italian NGO “Fondazione Corti”. On the occasion, the hospital staff presented to the Ambassador the ongoing activities under the initiative “Results Based Financing”, co-financed by AICS within the Call for Civil Society Organizations 2017, which consist of the use of innovative method of financing health services, based on incentives to maximize quality service delivery, in particular that of Pediatric care. The said intervention is coherent with the National Policy of Uganda entitled Performance Based Financing, to which the Italian Cooperation also contributed to its drafting in the past.