The Executive Director of the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), Dr. Jackson Orem, has rejected an appeal by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to stop charging patients seeking services at the private wing.

According to Orem, the income collected from the patients is used to maintain the institute equipment since the money provided by the government for equipment maintenance is not enough.

Orem was appearing before PAC on May 14, 2024, to examine the December 2023 Auditor General’s report.

His remarks follow questioning by MP Muwanga Kivumbi, the Chairperson of PAC, over the charges levied on patients that seek services from the private wing at UCI, yet only UGX 4.5 billion is collected in revenue.

Kivumbi appealed to the institute to have the funds incorporated within the institute’s budget by the government to enable the facility to offer free services to all Ugandans.

However, in response, Orem noted that the funds would still not be enough.

“Even if the government gives us that UGX 4.5 billion, there is still going to be a need for funds because cancer treatment is uniform internationally. That means that, even if you are a rich or poor person, the standard of treatment that you are getting is the same. So even if you gave us that money, it is still not going to make a very big difference,” Orem said.

“Cancer is a very impoverishing condition; the majority of the people who come to the institute actually don’t have money. Even the rich and people of the middle class initially want to be in the private services, but they can’t even last three months in the private services. They revert to the general wing,” Orem added.

Dr. Nixon Niyonzima, the Head of Research and Training at UCI, also defended the charges, arguing that they are used for equipment maintenance. He added that the institute needs more support from the government because it has many unfunded gaps.

The charges for medical services at the private wing include: admission fees of UGX 100,000 charged per night; consultation fees of UGX 50,000 per visit; laboratory blood tests of UGX 10,000; X-rays of UGX 30,000; and CT scans of UGX 200,000–300,000 charged depending on the organ the patient wants.

Patients in both the general and private wings receive free drugs. The institute also charges for radiotherapy services, and in case a patient is doing one of the advanced techniques, the charge is UGX 1.4 million for the entire radiotherapy period that lasts six weeks.