Lukwago discharged from hospital after surgery

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Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has been discharged from a multispecialty hospital in India’s business city of Gurgaon, where he recently underwent a successful neck surgery.

In a video shared on social media on Wednesday, Lukwago, 53, said in Luganda that he was in a stable condition and would be back to Kampala by the weekend.

“Honour and Glory be to God who has enabled me to overcome this condition. Since I underwent surgery on April 29, I have been in the recovery process. The doctors took me to the ward after leaving the ICU [Intensive Care Unit] and offered me highly-specialised treatment and care to avoid any infection and enable the wound to the neck to heal,” he said.

He said he was now stable and looking good. “I am happy that I have been discharged and given a certificate of fitness to fly. They assured me that the little pain in the back, upper arm and the neck will go away and gave me all the required medicine. I believe we will be in Kampala by the weekend, God willing,” he said.

Last month, the Uganda Medical Board approved Lukwago’s travel to India’s capital New Delhi for cervical decompression and fusion spinal surgery at Fortis Memorial Research Institute.

On his medical journey to New Delhi on April 25, Lukwago told his followers on X, formerly Twitter, that it was upon referral by several neurosurgeons and other physicians to have a specialised anterior cervical disc and fusion surgery to remove the herniated that had bothered him for over two months with excruciating pain and tingling in the back and upper left limb.

Dr Henry Mwebesa, the director general of health services at the Ministry of ealth, noted that Lukwago had been cleared to travel with one attendant, his brother and the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) had committed to meeting the costs related to the travel, treatment and stay while in India.

He noted this in a letter to Dr Rishabh Kedia and Paul Verinder Singh, consultant neurosurgeons at Medanta Mediclinic Cybercity, New Delhi, dated April 16, 2024.

Mwebesa introduced Lukwago to the duo, saying he was diagnosed with cervical spine, C6-7, disc prolapse with C6 left foraminal stenosis and acute radiculopathy over two months ago.

“He has been undergoing conservative pain management with minimal improvement. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) done revealed C6-7 reduced disc height with normal disc signal, asymmetrical left-sided disc bulge with a spinal canal diameter of 11.46mm, cervical spondylotic changes with degenerations of L2-L3 intervertebral discs,” Mwebesa said.

Mwebesa further informed the hospital that Dr Norbert Orwoth an orthopaedic and spine surgeon at Mulago National Referral had been referred to the facility for anterior cervical decompression due to limited in-country operative capacity at the moment.

“He will travel with one attendant, his brother, and KCCA has committed to meet the costs related to his travel, treatment and stay in India,” he stated.

Lukwago was first admitted to Nairobi Hospital in Kenya in March this year in severe pain, where he got some treatment.