M7 Flags Off $250m Hospital Project
New Facility to save Shs600bn annually spent treating VIPs abroad
By John V Sserwaniko
President Museveni on Thursday afternoon drove to Lubowa where he presided over the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the Finasi International Specialized Hospital of Uganda.
Spearheaded by Enrica Panetta, an elderly Italian lady who is also a good friend of the President, the hospital will cost $250m (close to a trillion) to construct and, according to Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng, the entire complex will sit on 86 acres of land.
It’s a joint venture between a company called FINASI and the Government of Uganda, which according to Aceng, is being executed under the new GoU policy of Public Private Partnership (PPP). Whereas FINASI, whose banker is Standard Chartered, is providing the funding ($250m), the GoU is providing the land (86 acres) on which the entire hospital complex is going to be constructed by Roko construction.
Museveni said that GoU will also ensure the investor gets the ready market by directing all the VIP treatment cases there as opposed to funding them to go abroad for the same. It all started 5 years ago when the President identified an investor through his Italian advisor Enrica Panetta. Desire to cash in on this project partly prompted the enactment of the PPP Act expeditiously.
Aceng said during the Lubowa ceremony that the specialized hospital was coming at the most appropriate time were the prevalence of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) was on the increase in Uganda amongst men, women, the young and old examples being cancer. “The challenge has been inadequate infrastructure, inadequate or late diagnosis and treatment equipment.
This has resulted into massive referrals abroad for specialized services,” Aceng told guests at Lubowa as it drizzled. As of 2010 when President Museveni first wrote to the MOH complaining of excessive spending on specialized treatment abroad, $70m was being annually spent flying VIP citizens abroad. According to the President, today the figure has since grown to $186m annually.
Aceng said the specialized services offered at Lubowa will greatly compliment on what has already started under Uganda Cancer Institute and Uganda Heart Institute each of which is created by an Act of Parliament permitting the establishment of these two specialized institutions. Mulago hospital is also soon re-opening as a specialized national hospital.
Aceng implored Museveni to use his clout to ensure an Act operationalizing Mulago’s new status is expeditiously enacted. Additional specialized capacity is expected to come from the Pediatric Surgery specialized hospital Museveni commissioned in Entebbe in February this year. The new international specialized hospital at Lubowa will, according to Aceng, comprise of 264 beds.
It will also have a training institute, hotel/accommodation facilities among other amenities. It will also have nuclear medicine which Museveni said will be a very good development for Uganda.
“Once fully operational, this facility will curb down on the massive loss of foreign exchange by citizens seeking specialized treatment abroad by offering brain surgery, cardiac surgery and thereby promoting Uganda as a medical tourism destination,” Aceng explained to an audience that comprised of the President, fellow Ministers, government technocrats, MPs and other stakeholders.
She thanked the leadership of JCRC (which surrendered 30 acres of land to facilitate the FINASI-GoU PPP), the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Finance Ministry for facilitating all processes leading to operationalization of the collaboration.
Comprising of Italian businessmen, the Italian delegation was led by Papal Nuncio who prayed for the project. In his speech, Museveni regretted the fact that it had taken 5 years for the GoU technocrats to conclude negotiations and have the PPP signed but was happy saying “my people are finally waking up.”
He welcomed the project saying it will greatly bring down the cost of accessing specialized treatment for especially non communicable diseases while covering other areas like brain surgery, heart surgery, cancer treatment, neuro surgery and organ transplant.
He also said he had identified an equally serious investor to put up another state of art hospital offering specialized dental surgery. He said the Lubowa project will annually save for Uganda $186m which his government annually spends treating VIPs and other citizens seeking specialized treatment abroad.
The figure doesn’t include expenditure by private citizens who sponsor themselves for such treatment abroad. It’s strictly what government annually spends. Museveni said once saved, that money will result into significant employment creation for Ugandan youths.
He said what is even more intriguing is the fact that of the $186m GoU annually spends, only $70m or a third of it goes into actual medical care. The rest goes into related expenses such as air ticket purchases, accommodation etc.
He also liked the fact that the Lubowa hospital will use solar making it environmental friendly. He also liked the planned technologies such as water harvesting and the fact that all the roofing will be done using green tiles aimed at minimizing environmental impact. He urged the AG to ensure a law permitting organ transplant is expeditiously enacted to avoid demoralizing Enrica Panetta whom he said was repeatedly asking him about that law.
Reflecting on how much time government lost fighting off false claimants of the Lubowa land, Museveni called for amendments in the Investment Code to make it a criminal offence for anyone to make “frivolously and fraudulently” claims on government land which in the end frustrate or delay government projects like was the case with the Lubowa hospital. He was very grateful with the Italian investors repeatedly saying “for me this is a dream coming true.”