SSUUBO team builds the best sickle cell anemia clinic in Uganda

The working year 2023 for SSUUBO started on the first day of January. The entire project team moved to Buikwe, Uganda for three weeks. The number of patients in our care will soon reach the number of 400. Such a high number brings with it new challenges. We are therefore strengthening the local Ugandan team and further improving the quality of care.

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Doctor in action

Zděněk Ráčil manages to perform more than 10 ultrasound examinations of brain vessels per day. Due to the measured values, one new patient is already treated with hydroxyurea, and another has started regular blood transfusions. In previously critical patients, blood pressures have normalized after three to six months of treatment, and we can almost rule out the risk of stroke in them. He monitors all patients treated with hydroxyurea and performs early detection analysis of renal dysfunction. In addition to regularly scheduled check-ups, he sees patients every day for whom he has to deal with acute crises. For example, malaria is currently very frequently diagnosed and the number of acute beds is insufficient. However, we can also cope with this, for example by having 2 children admitted in one bed.

Laboratory quality is on the rise

Renata Horáková, senior laboratory technician at the morphology laboratory of the Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion in Prague, is back in Buikwe ten months after her last visit to the clinic. In the laboratory and behind the microscope.

She teaches the evaluation of haematological specimens, supervises the work procedures of the laboratory technicians and introduces new laboratory methods. He is also intensively involved in training a new laboratory worker. "I am happy to see that the knowledge of the local lab technicians is deepening. However, they don't have the opportunity to see pathological findings as often in the local environment, so there is still a lot of work to be done."

Building a more welcoming environment

"I believe that we are succeeding in building a place where our young patients and their parents find not only high-quality medical care, but also a friendly team of staff who understand what they face in the psychological and social spheres and have a helping hand for them." These are the words of the project's psychologist, Štěpánka Podrazilová. She, together with the clinic's psychologist, is dedicated to the continuous improvement of mental health care. She trains our patient advocates and guides them to improve communication with patients' parents and improve their education. She then works with the social work team in the field to correctly identify patients who need support and the skills to provide it.

We visit the families of our patients

The final piece in the mosaic of our comprehensive care is the social status of our patients. Martin Židlík has been regularly visiting the homes of our patients for several years. He knows the story of every single child. The environment in which the children live and the social status of the family have a huge impact on the success of the treatment provided. Together with the clinic's social team, he is looking for ways to help those most in need.