Uganda visits CSIR courtesy of the Department of Health on a quest to learn from the best

A Ugandan delegation, led by Professor Byamugisha Josephat K, Associate Professor from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Makerere University, Kampala, visited the CSIR on 19 August 2014. The delegation was welcomed by Dr Rachel Chikwamba, CSIR Group Executive: Strategic Alliances and Communication and Professor Josephat was accompanied by various officials from the Ugandan Ministry of Health and consultant professionals from engineering, academics, health professionals and architectural disciplines. The aim of the visit was to take away lessons from South Africa’s healthcare system to apply in their country.  Rachel mentioned some of the current work undertaken by the CSIR in the health sector, such as automation of health systems; creation of guidelines, norms and standards; and innovative information and diagnostic technologies to support the healthcare system.

Josephat said, “The Government of Uganda would like to build a new maternity hospital. Building a new public health facility is a mammoth task, which is why we decided to benchmark various countries before embarking on this project. We came to South Africa as it has some of the best healthcare facilities, hoping you will share your lessons with us.”

 Peta de Jager, a CSIR research group leader for architectural engineering and also current president of the South African Federation of Hospital Engineering (SAFHE), presented a selection of maternity and paediatric facility design approaches that the delegation could adopt in their home country, each with advantages and disadvantages. She also spoke about the difference between services offered in the private and public health sectors and some of the government’s achievements regarding prenatal and antenatal care.

 She spoke about the design approach of having three separate rooms in the maternity section e.g. labour room; delivery room and post-natal rooms, as opposed to using one room for all three medical stages. Peta also looked at ways in which infrastructure and architectural design can play a role in alleviating some of these challenges by optimising staffing acuity, value engineering, infection mitigation and preventing other adverse events.

The CSIR's Peta de Jager and Uganda's Professor Byamugisha Josephat K, Associate Professor from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

The delegation was very appreciative of the CSIR presentation, which also contained a full set of the new Infrastructure Unit Support Systems  (IUSS) national norms, standards and guidelines for healthcare infrastructure. They also expressed the desire to return to the CSIR and explore its other capabilities, and invited the CSIR to Uganda. Peta noted that there will be lots to learn from Uganda and thanked the national Department of Health for inviting CSIR to share its experiences with the regional delegation.

Keolebohile Mosimege, Deputy Director: Africa and Middle East Relations from the Department of Health was grateful to the CSIR for making time to see the delegation and for sharing their expertise.

The delegation visited different hospitals before heading back to Uganda.

The Ugandan delegation with Peta and some of the representatives from the Department of Health.

By Anna Semenya
26 August 2014