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KCRC History and Background:
Kabwohe Clinical Research Centre (KCRC) started in 1999 as a branch of Bushenyi Medical Centre (BMC) in Kabwohe-Itendero Town council in Bushenyi District, South Western Uganda. BMC itself had been founded a year earlier (May 1998) by Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye in Bushenyi-Ishaka Town Council. Soon after its establishment BMC initiated a unique School Health Made Easy Scheme where students pay a premium of about 5 US dollars and get comprehensive medical coverage for a whole year including during school holidays. With support from the district council nearly 10,000 students from about 20 schools enrolled into the scheme and those from schools around Kabwohe requested for a branch of BMC near them. That is how BMC Kabwohe was established in small rented premises in town.
In July 2004, Dr Elioda Tumwesigye and family decided to transform a hitherto For-Profit sole-proprietorship business of Bushenyi Medical Centre into a Not-For-Profit entity (with a wider mandate) named Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye Foundation for Human Development (Dr. Elioda Foundation). In addition to health, the mandate of the Foundation extended to education. The Foundation took over the assets (including land and vehicles), medical equipment, materials, supplies and goodwill of all the branches of BMC. Furthermore Dr. Elioda Family gave an endowment of at least Seventy Million Uganda shillings to the Foundation. Using this endowment, a fundraising drive as well as bank loan the Foundation was able to acquire more land and to construct its own building. BMC Kabwohe moved into this in 2005.
Additional buildings were constructed and significant laboratory, radiological and medical equipment were acquired and the centre was undergoing rapid metamorphosis into a center of excellence in general and HIV/AIDS care, research and diagnostic services. With these new buildings and other infrastructure Bushenyi Medical Centre – Kabwohe was renamed Kabwohe Clinical Research Centre (KCRC). The renamed KCRC was officially launched in 2006 by H.E the President represented by Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga Deputy Speaker of Parliament in the presence of the Minister of State for Health Dr. Richard Nduhura. Later in Feb 2008, H.E the President came and laid a Foundation stone for a research building and since then construction of an additional research building has began and when completed, KCRC will have significantly expanded its research infrastructure.
KCRC now has three major units/Clinics: General In-patient and Out-Patient Clinic, the HIV/AIDS Clinic, and Research Clinic. KCRC covers a catchment area comprising of the larger part of South Western Uganda. This area included the districts of Bushenyi, Mbarara, Rukungiri, Ntungamo, Kasese, Kamwenge, Kabarole, Kanungu, Kabale, and some few neighboring districts serving a population of close to 3 million people according to Uganda Bureau of Statistics 2007 mid-year population projections.
Message from the Board Chair and Chief Executive
Saving a life is the highest ethical act one can ever do to fellow mankind. In establishing KCRC, we wanted to save lives of people living in rural communities where there are often inadequate diagnostic facilities, qualified medical personnel, effective and appropriate medication. We also wanted to improve people’s health seeking behaviors.
It takes a whole village to raise a child and when that child grows, it should be his or her obligation to give something back to that community or village that raised him or her. The community being served by KCRC did a big role in raising me and other colleagues with whom I work at KCRC. We felt it as a duty to establish such level of a medical facility to assist our people as a way of giving back to the community.
Africa, specifically sub-Saharan Africa, has unique challenges and diseases that need unique solutions and research. It is important for us in this area to participate in research to look for solutions that will liberate our people from these diseases. We have to look for collaboration with experienced researchers in the West and other developed countries as well as promote intra-Africa institutional research collaborations. KCRC was set up to carry out research on HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria and other tropical diseases, that contribute to significant mortality and morbidity in the region. KCRC is also poised to do research on hypertension, diabetes, cancer and other chronic diseases that are emerging as new threats to life in the developing world.
I register my appreciation to all development partners who have so far helped us to achieve commendable milestones in clinical care and research. These include but are not limited to; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, University of Washington, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University, US Government through HRSA and CDC, Children’s AIDS Fund, Catholic Relief Services, Institute of Human Virology Baltimore, University of Maryland, Futures Group and others. I also thank the Ministry of Health, Bushenyi District Local Government, KCRC Board members, Staff, and most importantly, the communities that we serve.
Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye
Chairman, Board of Directors
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