10 - Uganda | Muniini K. Mulera

Why Uganda should scrap tax-payer funded private health care

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda Uganda Health MattersNovember 12, 20180 comments

I understand why patients scramble to get referred to India and other distant lands for healthcare. First, there is a deep distrust of the Uganda health services – even at private hospitals. This, together with a natural tendency to believe that health care abroad is always ...

Corrupt alliance between Ugandan doctors and Indian hospitals hurts patients

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda Uganda Health MattersNovember 6, 20180 comments

When Dr. Nuwa Masinde Muliro, a senior surgeon in Kampala, referred his patient to what he believed to be a reputable Health Centre in India, he did not expect anything except a consultation report and, hopefully, news of a good outcome. Instead the first communication Dr. Muliro ...

A surgeon's struggle to serve patients at Uganda's Mulago Hospital - By Dr. William Manyilirah, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon Uganda Heart Institute

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda Uganda Health MattersOctober 29, 20181 comments

Dear colleagues. I don't normally write on this WhatsApp group, but I've been forced to do so. This morning, 26th October, my team and I went to the Main Operating Theatre (OT) of Mulago Hospital Complex to operate on two thoracic cases. The first patient was supposed ...

Why it takes a degree of insanity to be a surgeon at Mulago Hospital

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda Uganda Health MattersOctober 30, 20180 comments

When Dr. Joseph Buwembo, an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, visited Uganda in 2012, his mission was not only to see his relatives and enjoy his homeland, but also to give back to his people. He offered free neurosurgery on a baby that ...

Why I am politically homeless in Uganda

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda Uganda PoliticsSeptember 24, 20181 comments

Blame my father, my upbringing or my lifelong experiences, but I seem to be irrevocably married to the idea that I have a duty to actively participate in my own governance. No, I do not have to serve in any government to be an active participant in a process that has a direct impact ...

Giving acknowledgement - By Dr. Jane Nannono

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaSeptember 24, 20180 comments

Man is a social animal and goes about life making relationships. In doing so, he looks for acceptance, appreciation and acknowledgement. Being acknowledged makes people feel good about themselves and makes them want to do more for themselves and others. The super simple ...

Why I defend Bobi Wine and Bebe Cool’s freedom of choice

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda Uganda PoliticsSeptember 3, 20180 comments

At the centre of Uganda’s deepening political crisis is a large freedom deficit and an absence of democracy. The claim that the presence of several registered political parties and the ritual of regular elections every five years is evidence of democracy is an illusion. Ugandan ...

Remembering Kongo of Budo

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaJune 15, 20180 comments

A man who resembles Kongo of Budo. [With permission] During my time as an inmate of King’s College, Budo, Wednesday afternoons were free. No classes. No set activities. For some, an opportunity to be idle and disorderly. For others, time to do laundry, clean up ...

What happened to Uganda? - By Joy Odera

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda Uganda PoliticsOctober 25, 20163 comments

Indeed, what happened to Uganda? I hear this question of consternation more often from Ugandans and friends of Uganda who were of age or old enough to understand the social and political dynamics in or around 1972. I heed this question with doubt and perhaps misinterpretation of its ...

Catherine Zawedde Kisumba: Trailblazer - By Dr. Jane Nannono

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaMarch 8, 20180 comments

Catherine Zawedde Kisumba (1936-2017) On the 22nd October 2017, Catherine Zawedde Kisumba passed away peacefully at her home in Muyenga, Kampala. She was an outstanding mother of four, a grandmother of three and a great- grandmother of two boys. Outside home, she was celebrated ...

Benefits of a higher tax on cigarettes beyond protecting Ugandan cigarette manufacturers.

By Talibita MosesUganda Uganda Health MattersFebruary 14, 20182 comments

In 2017 parliament of Uganda amended the excise duty Act no. 11 of 2014. The Excise duty (Amendment) Act no. 11 of 2017 in section 2 imposes different excise rates on locally and foreign made cigarettes (soft cap and Hinge lid). This amendment is a matter of contention in the ...

Like the Proverbial Bad Penny……I had turned up again - By Dr. Jane Nannono

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda Uganda EducationSeptember 21, 20172 comments

Photo: Class of 1977, Makerere University Medical School. (Photo credit: Medical Illustration Department, Makerere.) Throughout my teenage years, I used to suffer from acute attacks of sore throat especially during the hot and dry December holidays. On one such occasion, ...

Green with envy - By Dr. Jane Nannono

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda East AfricaMay 24, 20172 comments

Last week, I attended a meeting in Arusha , a city in the northeast of Tanzania, East Africa. Arusha is the capital of the Arusha Region and is situated at the foothills of Mount Meru ; 4,566 meters and second highest mountain in Tanzania. Arusha is 80 kilometers west of Mount ...

Minimum age for President should be 18, not 35 years

By Kyokwijuka AlexanderUganda Uganda PoliticsApril 4, 20170 comments

While a good number of Ugandan political and civic leaders are agitating for lifting the age limit for one to contest for office of the president, I think it would make more sense for us to agitate for removing a minimum age for anyone interested in becoming President or Local Council ...

Grateful that I chose a career in medicine - By Dr. Jane Nannono

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda Uganda Health MattersMarch 21, 20170 comments

Students continue to graduate from the eleven or so universities in my country during this month of March. I graduated forty years ago and by then, there was one university: Makerere University. Currently there are six public universities. Forty years today, I ...

Forty years later, not ready to hang up the stethoscope

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda Uganda Health MattersMarch 20, 20170 comments

It has been forty years since our class took the final bow from undergraduate life at Makerere University. We had shared five long years of learning, of pushing each other to excel, of building friendships and of supporting each other through very difficult experiences. We ...