The president of Rotary International, who has been in Uganda for three days, has hailed the contribution of Centenary Bank and Rotary towards the fight against cancer in Uganda.

This was during the commissioning of the Rotary Centenary Bank Cancer Centre at Nsambya Hospital in Kampala today.

Mr John F. Germ said, “I would like to thank Rotary and its sponsors like Centenary Bank for what is happening here; serving the community. Today we celebrate service to humanity with this dedication of equipment to serve children, women and men.”

The Board Chairman of St Francis Hospital, Prof. Charles L.M. Olweny, said he was delighted that Rotary and its partners like Centenary Bank chose to erect one of their projects at the hospital.

“The Rotary Centenary Bank Cancer Centre re-affirms public-private and private-private partnerships. Rotary has contributed over $7.7m over the last three years for various projects with the cancer centre at Nsambya being one of them. I would also wish to thank Centenary Bank for its contribution,” Prof. Olweny said.

He added that there are plans to have Nsambya one of the best regional cancer centres specializing in the three most common cancers; breast, cervical and prostate cancer.

Mr Fabian Kasi, the managing director, Centenary Bank, took time off to congratulate all Rotarians and friends of Rotary, for marking 60 years of service in Uganda, before saying, since 2011, Centenary Bank has invested over shs1 billion in fighting cancer under its Bridging the Cancer Gap programme.

“The support for the fight against cancer is a strategic fit for Centenary Bank because successful corporations need a healthy society and at the same time a healthy society needs successful companies,” Mr Kasi said, adding, “We are pleased that our contribution to the Rotary Cancer Programme has yielded the construction and equipping of this Ward and a blood bank facility at Mengo Hospital. We will continue to prioritise the cancer fight as part of our corporate social investment.”

The idea to build a cancer centre at Nsambya was birthed in 2011.