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The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has signed a US$30 million loan agreement to support the construction and equipping of the new Uganda Heart Institute in Naguru, Kampala district.

The deal was signed on 6 September with Uganda’s Ministry of Finance.

The total cost of building the heart centre is estimated at US$73 million.  

The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa and the OPEC Fund are providing loans of US$20 million each, while the government of Uganda will contribute US$3 million to the project.

The Uganda Heart Institute will feature two fully equipped emergency admittance and care facilities, intensive care and emergency units with catheterisation procedure rooms, x-rays, and CT scans, two operating theatres for a wide range of cardiovascular surgical interventions, and five clinical and research laboratories. It will have 222 beds of which 20 will be in the critical care unit.

The feasibility study was completed in 2018. 

The total cost of the civil works has been estimated at US$46 million. The project scope entails the construction of three blocks: a clinical block; a research and training block; and a staff and maintenance block.

The clinical block will have a total area of about 24,000 square metres with two basements, one ground floor and nine further floors. 

The Uganda Heart Institute project aims to decrease the number of Ugandans leaving the country to receive cardiovascular treatment. It is expected to benefit more than 62,000 people. In addition to providing new equipment and facilities, the Uganda Heart Institute will seek to raise public awareness of heart disease.

Over the past four decades, the SFD has financed seven development projects in Uganda, worth US$81 million in the energy, health, agriculture and education sectors. 

Photo: Loan signing (Source: SFD)