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The initiation and development of the Lymphoma Treatment Centre (LTC) was a result of cooperation nd hard work of many individuals at the makerere university medical school, MOH and the National cancer institute (NCI) in the USA.
The inception of the idea started in 1965 during a meeting held in Kampala the capital city of Uganda, regarding the treatment of Burkitt's lymphoma.
The Lymphoma Treatment Centre (LTC) was dedicated to Denis Burkitt, the first surgeon who described the unusual children tumor that targets the jaw and the abdomen in 1950s. Burkitt described that this particular cancer could be cured with chemotherapy other than surgery. The NCI and Makerere university; the largest tertially institution in Uganda, agreed to open the lymphoma clinic in one of a few vacant buildings that once housed old Mulago hospital. This location allowed the patients to stay longer for treatment and observation.
The lymphoma treatment centre, as it was called then, opened its doors in august 1967 with creation of an 18-bed ward in the old Mulago hospital. The success of this unit leads to the foundation of a sister unit the Solid Tumor Centre (STC) in 1969 to enable additional investigations in adult cancers especially hepatocellullar carcinoma, Kaposi's sarcoma and malignant melanoma to be carried out. Functioning jointly, the two units together with the associated laboratories form the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI).
The organizational and leadership structure over the years has had a number of challenges mainly related to political insurgencies and financial setbacks. Initially the institute was occupied by the NCI staff (American and British researchers) conducting research and caring for the cancer patients, however, their stay was short-lived in 1971 due to the political instability then. The Asians were sent out of the country while the NCI researchers and other expatriates felt insecure and suddenly decided to return to their respective countries which resulted into the institute to have no leader.
Dr. Charles Olweny, a student at NCI that time was asked to take over immediate management of the institute otherwise it would be closed. Charles, who is the current chairman of the interim board of directors of UCI and the vice chancellor at Uganda Martyrs University, reported that the institute was then funded by the Uganda government (MOH). He negotiated with MOH to get a separate budget from the main hospital. Under his leadership, the Ugandan researchers were the first group to show that liver cancer could be treated by chemotherapy successfully (Doxorubicin), and documented the incidence of endemic KS in children. Dr. Olweny left the country in 1982 due to insecurity. He was succeeded by Dr. Edward Katongole Mbidde. Dr Edward Mbidde just maintained an extraordinarily high standard of care. For years UCI was the major cancer centre in the region as AIDS epidemic broke out, the institute was the first to take AIDS- related cancers like KS and Burkitt's lymphoma they had been studying for decades.
The economic decline in the country finally took hold of the UCI. Cancer was classified by MOH among non-communicable diseases, so a low priority group. The neglected institute had trouble attracting medical students and young researchers and could not afford to train staff. This way they continued to see patients but the strong research that had made the institute the jewel of Africa halted to maintain the most basic patient care."
http://www.uci.or.ug/index.php/about-us/history-and-background