Kiruddu Hospital has been asked to start plastic surgery. Private facilities charge up to US$10,000 (UGX42.7m) per procedureBy Prisca WanyenyaA section of legislators has asked Kiruddu National Referral Hospital to consider carrying out cosmetic surgery in Uganda to tap into the growing beauty industry and raise revenue for government, noting that private facilities charge up to US$10,000 (UGX42.7m) per procedure.The proposal was fronted by Karim Masaba (Mbale Industrial Division) during a meeting held on November 3, 2026 between the Public Accounts Committee and Kiruddu National Referral Hospital to consider the December 2025 Auditor General’s report.“We have many of our young girls who want to look beautiful, many of them have been going to Turkey to do plastic surgery and now I am told there are clinics around Kampala, and they are charging about US$10,000 (UGX42.7m) to do this plastic surgery and we know that our girls want to look more beautiful than they are. So how are you helping?” Masaba asked.He argued that since Kiruddu has the biggest Burns Unit in Uganda, venturing into the sector would improve professionalism, lower costs and make services more accessible.“Because this one could turn out to be a health hazard a few years from now, given that many of these clinics, I don’t know how they are regulated, how they are set up, could turn out to be a crisis, a health hazard for many of our people. And then a source of income for your hospital as well, because if a private facility is charging US$10,000, if you came in with US$2,000 to US$3,000, I believe many people would prefer to come to Kiruddu and Mulago Hospital,” Masaba said.However, Executive Director of Kiruddu National Referral Hospital, Dr Charles Kabugo, admitted the hospital has not ventured into cosmetic surgery and has left those services to the private sector because it is overwhelmed by demand for emergency plastic surgery for burns and road crash patients.“We have not yet expanded so much in that area, officially as a hospital. One, because our hands are full with emergency cases, the life-saving ones. So, these other elective ones for beautifying people, we have left them to the private sector to handle in the meantime because we have our hands full, we already have these emergencies that we need to cater for,” Dr Kabugo said.Fredrick Angura (Tororo South) disagreed with Dr Kabugo and urged Kiruddu to tap into the growing demand.“The Doctor should fast-track the beauty demands by our people because everyone likes beauty, so the more you delay, the more quacks enter and problems will come to you again,” Angura said.Dr Kabugo said Kiruddu holds the biggest Burns and Plastic Surgery Unit in Uganda to manage all complicated burns services.“When we talk about plastic surgery, I am not talking about beautifying people, but if you have an amputation, it is important for you to have a stump which is going to fit on the prosthesis. Let us say if you have got injuries to the face, like people who have been burnt with acid or fires, they will eventually rectify those scars that remain on the body. So those are some of the services that we offer at Kiruddu,” he explained.Oil Fires PreparednessMasaba also asked Kiruddu to explain how it has prepared to handle fire outbreaks associated with oil production, given numerous accidents recorded globally.“Given that we are looking for first oil, and we expect anything bad could go unplanned. So how prepared is your department in case we had a disaster? How prepared is your department to deal with issues of burns? And then you talked of having a department that is doing plastic surgery. I don’t know how many surgeons you have, who are well trained to handle our people?” Masaba asked.Dr Kabugo admitted the fears about Uganda’s preparedness for fires in the oil sector are justified, citing when a fuel truck overturned in October 2024 and Kiruddu received 35 casualties.“And I can tell you, just those 35 cases stretched our resources to the limit, the ICU and the team that was managing. So your fears are perfect when you say in case there is a bigger fire. Now it was just a truck. You can imagine now if there is a gas leak and a bigger outbreak like that happens,” Kabugo said.According to Dr Kabugo, Kiruddu has hired a consultant to design an expansion project for a new seven-floor building. Four floors will belong to the Burns and Plastic Surgery Unit, while the other floors will belong to the Dialysis Unit, because the current unit is very squeezed.“And we are glad we have got a lot of response from government because they know oil and gas explosion will come with fires. Regarding human resource, we now have about 25 plastic surgeons trained. We are now writing to the Ministry of Health to ensure that these people are deployed across the country so that the only cases that will come to Kiruddu will be the complicated cases. The smaller and mild cases can be managed in the periphery,” Kabugo said.He urged the Ministry of Health to deploy the trained plastic surgeons to all regional referral hospitals, noting that Kiruddu currently acts as the African training site for facilities from West Africa and South Africa.He also called for the Burns Unit at Hoima Regional Referral Hospital to be upgraded in preparation for First Oil.“We are now writing a concept to encourage government that all these regional referral hospitals should have a burns and plastic surgery unit. I don’t know whether they built a hospital in Hoima, or they are just expanding the old hospital. If they are expanding the old hospital, then it should be able to cater for that, to give it a big unit that is going to address these challenges. And all along the pipeline, I think we need to have well-equipped units to that effect,” Dr Kabugo said.The post Beauty is Business: Kiruddu Hospital to Tap into Lucrative Plastic Surgery Market appeared first on Business Focus.