Collaboration between Rotaplast International and local hospital staff aims to improve burn treatment and patient outcomes

The mission, which brought a large team of surgeons, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, focused on addressing the country’s limited burn treatment capabilities.

According to Dr. Rose, Uganda has only one major public burn center that serves the country’s population of 47 million people. The center often lacks sufficient skin grafts to cover large burn areas, a critical need that the Rotary mission aimed to address.

According to Dr. Rose, Uganda has only one major public burn center that serves the country’s population of 47 million people. The center often lacks sufficient skin grafts to cover large burn areas, a critical need that the Rotary mission aimed to address.

“We have only one major Burn Center, which is for the public, it’s free, which is here (at Kiruddu National Referral Hospital). And so for that 47 million Ugandans This is the only burn Center so we need a lot of skin” Dr. Rose explained.

The mission provided a specialized skin mesher and dermatome device (a donation from Humeca), which can significantly increase the number of burn cases that can be treated each day. As Dr. Rose noted, “We have one mesher, it probably can only do one or two cases a day, with two then we are able to do at least 2-5 cases a day. So it was doubles how many cases we can do.”

Beyond the medical equipment, the Rotaplast mission also facilitated valuable training and collaboration between the visiting and local healthcare teams. Speakers highlighted the opportunity for surgeons, anesthesiologists, and pediatricians to work together and share knowledge, ultimately improving the quality of care for burn patients in Uganda.

Dr. Rose expressed openness to Rotaplast returning to Uganda in the future, with a focus on further integrating local clinicians into the team and addressing more complex medical cases. This ongoing partnership aims to build sustainable improvements in Uganda’s healthcare system and better serve the country’s most vulnerable populations.