Experts worried about high rates of medical errors

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A Non-Communicable Diseases Researcher at the Makerere University School of Public Health has expressed an urgent need to address the high rates of medical errors that exist in the healthcare system.

Dr Geofrey Musinguzi who has just recovered from rectal cancer reveals doing numerous medical procedures in Uganda following his diagnosis while on a trip to Germany. He says at one time, he did a histology exam at a private laboratory in Kampala, only for doctors at the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) to find everything in the report wrong.

Musinguzi who was speaking over the weekend at the launch of a book in which he chronicles his journey with cancer urged government to offer clear guidelines and improve awareness for health workers. He noted that many times he met medical workers who were clueless on simple things like diet and feeding for a cancer patient or unblocking a stoma or an opening surgically created on the abdomen to divert flow of fecal matter.

Public Health Specialist Prof David Serwadda urged the public to do routine screening for cancer in order to get an early treatment in case one is found with the disease. He says if the 44 year old researcher hadn’t been diagnosed early, recovery would have been difficult.

He suggests doing a colonoscopy, a procedure that involves checking the state of the colon every after three years.

However, while responding to concerns surrounding rectal cancer diagnosis and treatment, Dr Noleb Mugisha who heads the Comprehensive Cancer Community Programme at Cancer Institute said there are currently no screening approaches for those below 40 years of age in Uganda.

He said while a routine colonoscopy is recommended for those above 40, the procedure is not affordable for many Ugandans. At Mulago National Referral Hospital where it’s highly subsidized, it goes for 400,000 shillings. In a private facility, the procedure goes for as high as 1.5million shillings.

Dr Frank Mugabe Rwabinumi a senior official at NCDs department of the Ministry of Health says such cancer screening will soon become more accessible as government is moving to decentralize cancer care to all regions in the country. He says the plan is to have screening done at the level of Health Center IIIs.

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