I spent Shs 21 billion on my mother's treatment – Basajjabalaba

Businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba has appealed to the Government to urgently roll out a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), saying that countless Ugandans cannot afford specialised medical care. 

Speaking at the burial of his mother and family matriarch, Hajjat Azida Nanteza, in Bushenyi District at the weekend, Basajjabalaba asked Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa—who represented President Yoweri Museveni—to urge the President to sign off on the long-delayed NHIS Bill, which remains stuck in Cabinet.

Reliving his own family ordeal where he had to spend over $ 6 million (about Shs 21billion), Basajjabalaba said Uganda needs a system that protects families from catastrophic medical expenses.

The tycoon recounted his mother’s health struggles spanning nearly three decades. Her illness, he said, began in 1997, prompting treatment in Nairobi, where doctors removed a large lump later confirmed, through tests in the UK, to have had the potential to develop into stomach cancer.

Between 1997 and 2007, the family sought treatment across India, South Africa and the United Kingdom. 

Her health challenges escalated when she lost her voice, leading the family to fly in a specialist from Egypt for corrective surgery. 

By 2017, new tests in Nairobi revealed she had pancreatic cancer, prompting an emergency airlift to Germany. A surgery there was unsuccessful, leaving her in the Intensive Care Unit for 19 months, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, the family hid her on the 15th floor of Hotel Africana to shield her from infection. 

More complications followed: lung clots in 2021, 2022 and 2023 weakened the right side of her heart.

In 2025, German doctors reported her heart had weakened further and detected two masses on her liver. 

Basajjabalaba told mourners that he asked whether a heart transplant was possible, offering to pay €2 million, but German authorities declined due to her age.

“They consulted with their government commission which determines such big transplants. The commission said they could not allow a heart transplant for an 86 year old,” he recalled.

“So we started struggling with her life until the end. I remember on her last day she raised her hand and waved at me.”

Basajjabalaba decried the financial burden that he took on though this ordeal, noting that no ordinary Ugandan would have managed it.

“Each trip we took to Germany cost at least €220,000. We went there about ten times, to the UK five times, and to South Africa five times. I have spent about $6 million on her treatment. This is too much money for an ordinary person.”

He concluded by urging government action: “This is why I beseech you, Mr Speaker Tayebwa, to plead with President Museveni to sign the Health Insurance Bill. Insurance is very helpful—every country has a national scheme. Uganda needs one too.”