Uganda Heart Institute

Uganda Heart Institute (UHI) is a specialized, public, tertiary care medical facility owned by the Uganda Ministry of Health and located in the Ugandan capital Kampala. It is a component of Mulago National Referral Hospital, the largest hospital in Uganda, which serves as the teaching hospital of Makerere University College of Health Sciences.

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 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) north 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).

Uganda Heart Institute (UHI) was established as an autonomous body by an Act of Parliament (The Uganda Heart Institute ACT, 2016). The Institute is now a provider of cardiovascular services and the only National Referral Facility for heart diseases in Uganda. Currently, UHI, using a modest investment and an enabling legal framework has trained cardiac specialists and installed a cardiac catheterization laboratory and operating theatre, which have enabled them to conduct heart surgeries and interventions.

Uganda Heart Institute handles over 20,000 patients annually. The Institute started carrying out Open Heart Surgery in 2007 and to-date; over 7000 heart operations have been performed. This in effect means the Uganda Heart Institute can handle over 95 percent of the adult cases and 85 percent of the cases among children in Uganda. This is in line with the National Development Plan II (NDP2) strategy of reducing referrals abroad to less than 5 percent.

In order to improve access to heart care, UHI is developing capacity to operationalize regional centers in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Regional Referral Hospitals. The Institute is partnering with various stakeholders including civil society, to promote health through advocating for a healthy lifestyle. The preventive programs are being addressed through a multi-sectoral approach with the Ministry of Health and other local and international partners. What Uganda Heart Institute needs now is more working space and lager operational budgets to enable it fulfill its mandate.

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.

Beginning in August 2015, the Government of Uganda had 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.

The New Vision newspaper, reported in November 2016, that Uganda Heart Institute had acquired land measuring 2.5 acres (10,000 m²) along Owen Road in the Mulago neighborhood, where it was going to build its new headquarters. The new complex will consist of three towers: (a) the first tower will house the outpatient clinics and hospital beds, including an intensive care unit (b) the second tower will include research laboratories and conference rooms and (c) the third tower will house critical staff, such as research fellows, residents and biomedical engineers. Total cost for the entire project is budgeted at US$65 million, of which US$51 million is for construction and the US$14 million balance is for equipment.