The Ministry of Health has operationalized the first of its kind, the Mulago National Teleradiology Center, a centralized hub for CT SCAN image interpretation, connecting 14 regional referral hospitals across the country, and some of the regional referral hospitals include Fort Portal, Mubende, Masaka, Hoima, Mbale, Jinja, Lira, Arua, Moroto, and Soroti.
According to Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Ministry of Health Public Relations Officer, operationalization of the teleradiology scan results conducted by an operator at the regional referral hospitals will be electronically delivered to specialists’ radiologists at Mulago for interpretation.
“We have created centers where they will be sending images to radiologists at Mulago Hospital for interpretation,” said Ainebyoona.
He, however, revealed that there have been some delays as a result of some referral hospitals lacking radiologists and specialists to operate the installed CT scan machines.
“As long as the hospitals where the CT scans are installed have qualified persons to operate the scan, all they require is to deliver the image to specialist doctors who will provide expert analysis, interpretation, and recommendation,” said Ainebyoona.
As a patient in Fort Portal requiring radiology services, Kimuli Jovia expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Health for making it possible for them to obtain treatment using teleradiology. By using teleradiology, patients have been able to receive better treatment services at a reduced price, as opposed to before when they needed to travel long distances to access such services, which was costly for most low-income patients.
