Gino Strada, Renzo Piano and President Museveni place the first stone of EMERGENCY’s new Centre of excellence for Paediatric Surgery in Uganda.

On February 10, in Entebbe, Uganda, EMERGENCY NGO founder Gino Strada and architect Renzo Piano, in the presence of President Museveni and Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, laid down the first stone of a new project: an EMERGENCY Centre of excellence for Paediatric Surgery, which will be built at Lake Victoria, 35 kilometers from the capital, Kampala.

The necessity of opening a centre specializing in pediatric surgery in Uganda and neighboring countries has been emphasized by African health ministers who participate in ANME, the African Network of Medical Excellence. This is a “network of healthcare excellence in Africa”, created on EMERGENCY’s initiative in 2009. The network aims to develop a healthcare system in its member countries, and bring free medical care of excellence to Africa, affirming, in practice, the right of every human being to be treated at no cost and at high-quality. The Entebbe hospital will be the second excellence centre in the network, after the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery in Khartoum, Sudan.

In Uganda, infant mortality under 5 years is at 138 children per 1000 live births. Guaranteeing free surgical treatment, in this context, is a priority which will contribute to the reduction of infant mortality in Uganda and bordering countries. “Millions of children die every year simply because they have no access to health care,” explains Strada. “Lack of resources? Lack of interest for the sufferings of many? Lack of social responsibility from the governments? Or all of the above? Whatever the reason, the question remains: shall we continue to tolerate this scandal, or shall we make every effort to save or improve the life of millions of fellow human beings?” The hospital will be a referral centre for Ugandan patients, as well as for children from all of Africa, who urgently need surgery.

The Ugandan government has decided to participate actively to the project, donating the plot where the hospital is going to be built.

Renzo Piano Building Workshop has designed the hospital in collaboration with Tamassociati, with the technical and mechanical coordination of Prisma engineering and structural support of Milan ingegneria.

“When Gino Strada asked me to participate in this new challenge of EMERGENCY, I didn’t think twice and immediately said Yes!” says Piano. “This new hospital will be a model of medical excellence, environmental sustainability, energetic independence, and harmonious space distribution. We want to utilize the resources of the earth, water, and sun, the best achievements of modernity, the real ones. The hospital will be built at Lake Victoria, surrounded by nature and trees. The greenery will be the close horizon of the little guests, and the trees a metaphor for their healing process.”

The hospital will have three operating rooms, and 78 beds. It will also be a training centre for young doctors and nurses from inside and around Uganda. It will be constructed with walls of rammed earth, a technique using raw materials from the ground, guaranteeing high thermal mass to maintain constant temperatures and humidity. Particular attention will be paid to ecological aspects. The centre will be covered with about 2.600 photovoltaic solar panels, to satisfy its energy needs.

EMERGENCY thanks the companies and foundations that have hitherto joined the project: Agatos Energia SRL, Belimo SRL, Casalgrande Padana, Climaveneta SPA, Doka Italia SPA, Duferdofin-Nucor SRL, Elettronica Santerno, Enel Greenpower, Fondazione Promozione Acciaio, Fondazione Prosolidar, GAE Engineering, Giugliano Costruzioni Metalliche SRL, Gruppo Amenduni Tubi Acciaio, iGuzzini, Luigi&Felice Castelli, MAEG SPA, Mapei SPA, Maspero Elevatori SPA, MPL, Paola Coin, Perin Generators Group, Polyglass SPA, Salini Impregilo (Salini is providing technical advice to the team that is working with us in Uganda, under the guidance of Renzo Piano, to build the Centre), Terni Energia, Vimar SPA, Zintek SRL.