The Uganda Heart Institute is the specialized unit within 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, business-people, university professors, cardiologists, and cardio-thoracic 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. 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 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 along Owen Road in the Mulago neighborhood, where it was going to build its new headquarters. The new complex will consist of three towers: the first tower will house the outpatient clinics and hospital beds, including an intensive care unit the second tower will include research laboratories and conference rooms and 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.
New developments
On Monday 22 January 2018, an all-Ugandan team of 14 healthcare specialists performed the first coronary artery bypass surgery operation by an all Ugandan team, in the history of the heart institute. The successful 10-hour operation was billed at USh18 million, compared to USh300 million, if it were done in a private hospital in South Africa, a common destination for Ugandan patients, with means. In April 2018, a cohort of 11 patients with abnormal heart rhythms, underwent a procedure called catheter ablation using the radiofrequency ablation method. All eleven of the patients benefited and recovered well. This was the first time this type of procedure was performed in Uganda.
Board of directors
, the following individuals constituted the board of directors of the Institute:
Robert Ssebunnya, MP for Kyaddondo County, North - chairman
