KAMPALA, Uganda — 5 November 2026. Uganda Heart Institute has invited bids for equipment and furniture for its new cardiac hospital in Naguru, opening a procurement stage that includes installation, testing, user training and commissioning.
The official tender invitation, issued on 3 November and listed on the institute’s website on 4 November, covers both medical equipment and the support systems required to run the facility. It does not announce that the hospital is complete or receiving patients.
UHI is seeking medical equipment, furniture, ICT and support equipment for its Naguru hospital, including installation, testing, user training and commissioning. The procurement advances preparations for the facility, but contract awards, equipment readiness and an announced patient-opening date remain separate milestones.
Two procurement routes, two closing dates
UHI separates the procurement into international competitive bidding for medical equipment and open domestic bidding for non-medical equipment, furniture and ICT.
The detailed invitation lists catheterisation laboratory, imaging, operating theatre, perfusion and critical-care equipment. It also includes medical gas infrastructure, laboratory and pharmacy equipment, sterilisation and laundry systems, kitchen equipment and furniture.
Suppliers may bid for more than one sub-lot, but each is tendered, evaluated and contracted separately. The published schedule is subject to change, so bidders should check the original documents and any subsequent amendments.
For patients, the significant feature is the procurement’s scope beyond delivery. Testing and user training are included alongside installation. Buying a machine is one step; preparing it and its users for service is another.
The US$73 million package is for the wider project
The institute’s infrastructure project overview identifies a US$73 million funding package:
HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Uganda Heart Institute Seeks Equipment for Naguru Hospital
5 nov. 2026
5 nov. 2026
7 min read
Published
Updated:
KAMPALA, Uganda — 5 November 2026. Uganda Heart Institute has invited bids for equipment and furniture for its new cardiac hospital in Naguru, opening a procurement stage that includes installation, testing, user training and commissioning.
The official tender invitation, issued on 3 November and listed on the institute’s website on 4 November, covers both medical equipment and the support systems required to run the facility. It does not announce that the hospital is complete or receiving patients.
UHI is seeking medical equipment, furniture, ICT and support equipment for its Naguru hospital, including installation, testing, user training and commissioning. The procurement advances preparations for the facility, but contract awards, equipment readiness and an announced patient-opening date remain separate milestones.
Two procurement routes, two closing dates
UHI separates the procurement into international competitive bidding for medical equipment and open domestic bidding for non-medical equipment, furniture and ICT.
Category | Method | Submission deadline |
Lot 1: medical equipment | International competitive bidding | 4 January 2027, 11:30 EAT |
Lot 2: non-medical equipment, medical and non-medical furniture, ICT | Open domestic bidding | 30 November 2026, 11:30 EAT |
The detailed invitation lists catheterisation laboratory, imaging, operating theatre, perfusion and critical-care equipment. It also includes medical gas infrastructure, laboratory and pharmacy equipment, sterilisation and laundry systems, kitchen equipment and furniture.
Suppliers may bid for more than one sub-lot, but each is tendered, evaluated and contracted separately. The published schedule is subject to change, so bidders should check the original documents and any subsequent amendments.
ADVERTISEMENT
For patients, the significant feature is the procurement’s scope beyond delivery. Testing and user training are included alongside installation. Buying a machine is one step; preparing it and its users for service is another.
The US$73 million package is for the wider project
The institute’s infrastructure project overview identifies a US$73 million funding package:
Funding source | Published contribution |
OPEC Fund | US$20 million |
Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa — BADEA | US$20 million |
Saudi Fund for Development | US$30 million |
Government of Uganda | US$3 million |
Total | US$73 million |
UHI describes development-partner loan financing alongside the government contribution. These amounts concern construction and equipping of the overall project; they are not the price of the newly advertised equipment contracts.
The invitation does not publish their final contract values. Its bid-security figures are guarantees required from bidders, not equipment prices. Nor does the notice establish how much of the wider funding package has already been disbursed, or set out interest rates, grace periods and repayment schedules.
UHI names The Arab Contractors as the civil-works contractor. Its project record dates the construction contract to 9 December 2024 and site possession and commencement to 6 January 2025.
ADVERTISEMENT
Planned capacity must become usable care
The Ministry of Health’s February 2025 construction announcement describes a planned 250-bed hospital on ten acres, including 40 cardiac intensive-care beds, three operating theatres and two catheterisation laboratories.
The ministry presents expanded local treatment, specialist training and research, and fewer overseas referrals as intended benefits. These are project objectives and planned capacity, rather than measured results from the new facility.
For Ugandan families, the practical test will be whether more patients can obtain timely, affordable treatment. A bed total alone cannot establish waiting times, treatment charges, referral arrangements or how many procedures the hospital will perform.
The project also has wider relevance for specialised care in the region, but the tender does not announce cross-border referral agreements or access conditions for patients from neighbouring countries.
Access and staffing remain part of delivery
Earlier reporting shows why the equipment programme must be considered alongside the rest of the hospital.
In a 3 July 2026 report by Uganda Radio Network, UHI executive director Dr John Omagino said government had resolved to compensate Phaneroo Ministries International over land needed for an ambulance access road. The compensation package was still being finalised at the time.
The same report quoted board chairperson Dr James Magara on the need to recruit and prepare a much larger workforce for Naguru while maintaining care during the transition from Mulago. Those July statements identify implementation needs; they do not prove that compensation, road construction or recruitment is complete today.
Popular Today
ADVERTISEMENT
An earlier Finance Ministry monitoring report, published in September 2025, recorded ground-condition and excavation difficulties, together with outstanding access-road, power and ICT infrastructure requirements. Those findings are historical, not a current construction-progress measurement.
What needs to happen before patients arrive
The procurement notice sets out a sequence leading through evaluation and best-evaluated-bidder notices to contract signing, subject to the required approvals. It does not give an equipment-delivery date or a confirmed opening date for patients.
The ministry’s launch announcement referred to a two-year construction timeframe, while URN’s July report described an ambition to operate by June 2027. Neither should be treated as a guaranteed service-opening appointment.
Equipment installation and commissioning will need to connect with building readiness, staffing, access and continuing operating support. Patient charges and the timetable for transferring individual services also remain to be announced in the records reviewed.
Uganda’s broader effort to develop medical capacity includes the separate HIV self-test assembly initiative in Mukono. At Naguru, the next evidence of delivery will be awarded contracts, installed and tested systems, trained teams and a clear service-opening notice from UHI.
ADVERTISEMENT
Related Articles
