New Hospital Triples the Number of Surgical Beds for Children in Uganda

Children’s Surgical Hospital, a new facility in Entebbe, Uganda, created through the efforts of Italian nonprofit EMERGENCY, began serving patients in April 2021. The first patients, Ramadhan, Topista, Justine, Katongole, Matovu, and Jordan, are between 3 and 11 years old and received treatment for a range of medical conditions.

Situated on the banks of Lake Victoria almost 4,000 feet above sea level, the new hospital was designed pro bono by Renzo Piano, one of the world’s leading architects. The opening of the hospital, which will become a surgical referral point for patients from other countries in the region, triples the number of surgical beds available for children in Uganda.

The facility has been ready for a year, but the opening was delayed by the pandemic. At full capacity, the hospital will employ 385 people from the area, 179 of whom are medical workers. The ratio of local to foreign staff is four to one amongst the surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, and technicians, while 95% of non-medical staff are Ugandan. The hospital will also work to train local staff who will go on to improve pediatric surgery and medical care in the country.

The hospital has 100,000 square feet of space, including three operating rooms, 72 beds (six for intensive care and 16 for sub-intensive care), an observation and stabilization ward, six clinics, a radiology room, a laboratory with a blood bank, a CT scanner, a pharmacy, a guesthouse for traveling patients, medical training rooms, and an outdoor play area.

It is the second facility in the African Network of Medical Excellence (ANME), after EMERGENCY’s Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery, built in Khartoum, Sudan, in 2007.

The project was developed through services donated by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, TAMassociati, and EMERGENCY’s Building Division. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) proudly supported the project.