KAMPALA, UGANDA – Nsambya Hospital on the outskirts of the city centre took recently took delivery of a new CT Scan to help with diagnostics.
Uganda currently has a shortage of Computerized Tomography (CT) scanners. There are only 12 CT scanners in the country, most of which, including the one at Mulago National Referral Hospital, are slow and less efficient.
The Nsambya 128-slice high-end scanner installed early this month will also ease heart and kidney disease examinations as well as diagnosis of cancer and tumors.
Acquisition of high-end scanners improves diagnosis, quality of treatment and reduces the burden of traveling abroad for sophisticated diagnosis. Cases of stroke can now be handled better.
The scanner has a higher speed with lower radiation exposure to the patient compared to others on the market.
It also produces a sharp 3D image which shows the disease more explicitly.
According to hospital officials, scanning one’s body from the chest to the waist which usually requires 30 seconds will now take only six seconds, he said.
A stroke occurs if the flow of oxygen-rich blood to a portion of the brain is blocked.
Without oxygen, brain cells start to die after a few minutes. Sudden bleeding in the brain also can cause a stroke if it damages brain cells.
Stroke symptoms include sudden weakness; paralysis or numbness of the face, arms, or legs; trouble speaking or understanding speech; and trouble seeing. A stroke can cause lasting brain damage, long-term disability, or even death.
Treating strokes had become a challenge in Uganda because the available scanners could not critically image the functioning of the brain.
