Finance Minister Henry Musasizi has clarified that government’s borrowing, including the proposed €31.98 million loan for the Mbarara Regional Diagnostic and Oncology Centre, is part of the programmed borrowing for FY2026/27 and is already incorporated into the country’s debt projections.
Musasizi made the clarification while appearing before Parliament’s Committee on National Economy, which is scrutinising the proposed financing, including its implications for public debt, procurement conditions and project costs.
“All these loans we acquire within the year are already in our programmed borrowing. So, when we tell you the debt-to-GDP ratio is now at 54%, that projection includes the borrowings within the year,” said Musasizi, adding that the loan will have no additional impact on the numbers already given.
€33.5M Project, 0.347% Interest
The proposed project will cost €33.58 million, comprising a €31.98 million concessional loan from the Government of France and €1.6 million in counterpart funding from the Government of Uganda.
According to the financing brief presented to the committee, the loan has a maturity period of 25 years, including a 10-year grace period, at an annual interest rate of 0.347%.
The Minister said the financing is highly concessional, with the Ministry of Finance’s technical team putting the grant element at 52%, above the Ministry’s minimum requirement of 35%.
The project will involve constructing wards, clinical rooms, CT scanning rooms and supporting facilities, alongside procuring MRI and CT scanners and other specialised medical equipment and furniture. The proposed site is at the Kihumuro Campus of Mbarara University of Science and Technology, within five kilometres of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital.
Government is expanding regional cancer services to bring specialised treatment closer to communities and ease pressure on the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) in Mulago.
In 2025, UCI received 8,764 new cancer patients, up from 4,194 in 2015, more than doubling over the decade. The institute recorded over 67,043 outpatient days and 90,732 inpatient days, with bed occupancy exceeding 200%. Its outpatient clinics attended to almost 278 patients daily.
The existing UCI service in Mbarara received 1,306 new cancer patients in 2025, serving patients from more than 18 districts in Western Uganda. The Mbarara centre is part of government’s wider expansion of regional oncology services, alongside centres in Gulu, Arua and Mbale, where construction commenced on June 1, 2026.
