Businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba has revealed that he was willing to spend up to Shs10 billion to secure a heart transplant for his late mother, who died in Germany after battling severe heart complications.
Speaking at her burial on Sunday, an emotional Basajjabalaba shared the extraordinary efforts his family made as they sought to save her life. He recounted how, at the peak of her illness, he pleaded with German specialists to help secure a donor heart—offering as much as €2 million (around Shs10 billion).
“I told them I could pay 1 million euros, even 2 million. The professor looked at me and asked whether I was truly ready to pay that much for an 86-year-old. I said yes,” he recalled.
He said he even suggested transferring her to Cologne if it meant getting access to a transplant. However, doctors later explained that Germany’s strict laws forbid the buying or selling of organs, regardless of one’s financial capacity. They also informed him that patients above 80 years old do not qualify for heart transplants under the country’s medical guidelines.
Basajjabalaba revealed that his mother had received advanced medical treatment in several countries. The family undertook more than 20 international medical trips—10 to Germany, five to the United Kingdom and five to South Africa.
Each journey, he said, cost no less than €220,000, bringing the total medical bill to about US$6 million.
“When you add it all up, it’s roughly six million dollars. You realise that an ordinary Ugandan cannot afford that level of treatment,” he said.
He used the moment to urge government to urgently implement a national health insurance scheme to shield Ugandans—especially the elderly, expectant mothers and children—from crippling medical expenses.
Citing Germany and neighbouring Tanzania as examples of countries where citizens access free or low-cost medical services, he argued that Uganda should not lag behind.
“In Uganda, we are all like villagers. No serious country operates without medical insurance. If my mother had insurance, I would have paid only about 40% of these costs,” he said.
