C-Care Uganda symposium makes case for affordable treatment across the country

Mulago’s Dr Byanyima hails C-Care Uganda for sharing health care knowledge

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | C-Care Uganda marked its 30th year in the country on Friday with a symposium, where key speakers called for the building of super-specialised health services to bring a halt to the costly trips patients take abroad seeking medical care.

“Every year, hundreds of patients travel from East Africa to seek medical treatment abroad, not by choice but by circumstances. Today, that is the story we want to change,” said the director of medical services at C-Care, Dr Kevin Moracha.

Azhar Sundhoo, C-Care CEO, East Africa, explained that their mission is to expand affordable healthcare across the country. “Our aim is to bring world-class quality health care to C-Care. One of the challenges in the country is the lack of superspecialists. We have gone out to find super specialists to fill the gap and also sent our doctors for super specialist training,” he revealed.

He announced that, in efforts to cut costs of travelling to Kampala and abroad for treatment, the new C-Care hospital in Gulu will improve its services and, by the end of the year, should be the first regional hospital in the country to be internationally recognised by COHSASA.

COHSASA (Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa) is the only internationally recognized quality improvement and healthcare accreditation body operating in Sub-Saharan Africa. It evaluates and accredits hospitals, primary clinics, and specialized medical facilities based on globally recognized, ISQua-endorsed standards.

“There are good things happening in Uganda, from oil to agriculture and we believe this growth will create even more opportunities for healthcare. Let us continue doing the right thing because the future is bright,” said CEO Azhar Sundhoo.

The symposium that focused on innovation was attended by leading doctors and nurses from leading hospitals – private and public. Dr. Rosemary Byanyima, Director of Mulago Hospital, was the keynote speaker and chief guest.

“We have to venture into artificial intelligence, especially in diagnostics and radiology; we have to exploit platforms like telemedicine. When we have an integrated electronic system, it also caters to logistics management, which often is a challenge. The digitisation of processes is the way to go,” she said.

Dr Byanyima challenged participants in the symposium to continuously pursue innovation to achieve clinical excellence. She expressed her gratitude to C-Care Uganda for sharing research and health care knowledge and joining pace-setters like the Heart and Cancer Institutes.

Great learning experience #CCareAt30 proudly associated pic.twitter.com/VzYGcXLcjv

— Sabrina Kitaka (@SabrinaKitaka) May 22, 2026

She called upon both public and private healthcare stakeholders to strengthen clinical data management as a critical foundation to influence government policy and effective policy implementation. She emphasised the need for collaboration between private and public health facilities in innovation.

“If we are to achieve universal health coverage, the public and private facilities must play together. We are not here to compete, as we all have more than enough work. We must collaborate… Truth be told, we share the same specialists,” she remarked.

Brain and spine care

Six expert doctors and nurses made presentations, showcasing what has been achieved over the last 30 years while looking into the future of Ugandan medical care.

Dr. Samuel Oluka narrated how advanced interventions in brain and spine care are rapidly developing within East Africa. He said C-Care was proud to lead conversations that make these specialized services highly accessible and gave an example of a patient handled from the DRC. 

“The most complex neurological cases are never solved in isolation; success requires a seamless, collaborative effort across all medical and surgical disciplines,” he said.

Dr. Dan Oriba Longoya, head of CMS Gulu, shared how acute kidney injury is becoming a massive public health challenge in Uganda and how the cost of dialysis and lack of equipment are affecting treatment.

YOUTUBE VIDEO DR BYANYIMA

YOUTUBE VIDEO Azhar Sundhoo, C-Care CEO