Uganda: Mulago Hospital

IGOT has collaborated with Dr. Titus Beyeza and the Makarere University Medical School at the Mulago Hospital in Kampala, the national referral hospital of Uganda to establish a Research Initiative. This initiative serves to facilitate the completion of required research dissertations for the orthopaedic residents at the Mulago Hospital as well as a site for collaborative research for our residents and medical students.

A requirement for the orthopaedic residency program at Mulago is the completion of a comprehensive research project. The successful completion of this requirement is a daunting task for the Ugandan residents, as they must financially support not only their entire education but also this project. The failure to meet this requirement results in fewer graduates of the program and thus fewer orthopaedic surgeons in Uganda.

IGOT has collaborated with Dr. Beyeza and his orthopaedic residents to help facilitate the successful completion of these research dissertations. The research topics are initiated by the Ugandan residents and submitted to IGOT for collaboration. Some completed research topics include; “Complications and Reason for Seeking Treatment from Bonesetters Among Patients with Fractures and Dislocations at Mulago Hospital”, Prevalence and Presentations of Spinal Injury Among Trauma Patients Admitted at Mulago Hospital”, “Diagnostic Knee Arthroscopy: Findings and Their Correlation with Clinical Impressions at Mulago Hospital” and “Initial Management of Patients with Cervical Spine Injury at Mulago Hospital”. It is IGOT’s hope to maintain this collaboration and help enable the future orthopaedic residents in Uganda to continue their research as well as successfully complete their programs.

IGOT’s Research Initiative with the Makarere University Medical School has also stemmed a collaborative research project studying the health care burden of osteomyelitis, bone infection, in Uganda. This initiative was head by Christine Stanley during her 4th year of Medical School at UCSF in collaboration with the UCSF Department of Global Health Sciences; Dr. George W. Rutherford, Dr. Saam Morshed, Dr. Richard Coughlin and Dr. Titus Beyeza. Christine studied in Uganda from October 2007 thru March 2008 and her efforts will continue to be researched as osteomyelitis, especially chronic osteomyelitis is a considerable burden on the health care systems in many developing countries. IGOT hopes this research will produce observations that will lead to sustainable interventions on the identification and management of this condition.