Physiotherapists' number to increase after the opening of school at Lubaga

Uganda is set to experience an increase in the number of well-trained physiotherapists following the opening of a Physiotherapy department and school at Lubaga hospital in the capital Kampala.

Dr. Julius Luyimbazi the Executive director Lubaga hospital said there is a very big percentage of Ugandans who need these services, some of them know, others don’t know.

“Physiotherapy is a service needed by those people who have a shortage in function. People who have strokes, people who have accidents, and therefore they don’t manage to go back to their normal work, people who are born with defects and all that” the ED explained .

According to Dr. Luyimbazi, Lubaga hospital attends to a total of 5000 patients annually who are in need of physiotherapy services.  

The number he says is growing because there is more awareness, and the unit will be able to provide these services to the patients.

The unit with a fully functional gym and equipment cost more than 1.5 billion shillings with funding from the German Government through Malteser International

The old physiotherapy unit was small, there was not enough space for exercises, and there was not enough space for machines and equipment.

“Today we have commissioned a new unit that has the capacity for taking care of all our patients and accommodating all our machines. So we are proud that we have joined the rest of the world in offering quality physiotherapy facility and service” stated Dr. Luyimbazi.

The gym is well equipped with balancing boards, Wedges, an Arms trainer, treadmills, static bikes, and a pulley system among others for the rehabilitation of patients.

The new school of physiotherapy at Lubaga becomes the fourth facility to offer physio training.  

The school will train at least 10-20 physiotherapists per year to help address the problem of shortage of these service providers in the country.

Speaking during the commissioning of the Physiotherapy unit and School the Germany Ambassador to Uganda Matthias Schauer said many Ugandans will benefit from this service

Uganda has only about 400 physiotherapists and are concentrated in Kampala, making this a very small number compared to the country's population of 42 million.

Ambassador Schauer mentioned that Professional physio therapeutic treatment in Uganda is still quite limited and the number of well-trained physiotherapists is still very small.

“This is why I am glad that Lubaga hospital and Malteser International with funding from the German government are helping to narrow this gap” he added

According to the ambassador a proper physiotherapy department will help trainees to practice and of course provide state of the art physiotherapy to the public.

The double storied facility was built by Impact Building Solutions-IBS foundation using new climate smart technologies that help prevent carbon emissions.

The IBS-foundation CEO Eckardt Dauck, a Germany entrepreneur noted that the building has a lightweight gauge steel frame with zero carbon panels made out of locally sourced rice straws.

This material was developed in the 1930s in Europe. It’s produced according to British standards. It has a fire rating test of up to 90 minutes according to European standards. So even though it’s made from straw, it does not burn fast. 

According to Eckardt, the material used has a very high impact resistance and “in earthquakes it’s very good because it’s very flexible, it can move taking in shocks and it doesn’t crack”.

He said IBS-foundation completed the superstructure shell in a period of 72 days contrary to the planned 92 days