President Yoweri Museveni is today expected to preside over the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a building block to house the Radio Therapy machine bunker at the Ugandan Cancer institute.
According to Dr. Jackson Orem, the institute’s director, the new building will have four bunkers which will house four modern tele therapy machines known as Linac, two brachytherapy machines for cervical and a control room.
Dr Orem says Roko Construction Company Ltd was awarded a one-year contract to build the radio therapy bunker expected to be ready one year, at a cost of Sh25bn.
Debate about construction of the bunker heated up last month following the breakdown of the country’s only cobalt 60 radio therapy machine installed at Mulago in 1995.
Replacement of the machine with a new one purchased in 2013 has been delayed due to lack of a bunker to house it.
Health minister Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye had earlier indicated that government was exploring a possibility of housing the new machine in the old bunker, raising questions about the viability of such a move.
