Luweero orthopaedic unit idle

Luweero- An orthopaedic facility at Luweero Health Centre IV has been converted into a store for medical scrap materials.
The facility was constructed by the Uganda Society for the Disabled Children to enable it manufacture artificial limbs for people living with disabilities.

However, health officials say it is now non-functional due to lack of funds. According to Dr Sarah Ogobi, the officer-in-charge of the health centre, the facility was supposed to operate as a fully-fledged department but that this has not been possible.

“Many of the services, which were supposed to be offered at the facility, were put to a halt due to lack of funds. The facility was constructed by USAID, which later pulled out,” said Dr Ogobi during an interview last Friday.

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“Many of such facilities are at hospital level because hospitals have a bigger budget and staff to manage such a facility, which is not the case here,” he added.
Currently, Luweero Health Centre IV has only a polothetic orthopaedic officer yet a fully functional orthopaedic department must have a surgeon, physiotherapist, and a nurse, among other staff, according to Dr Ogobi.

She said the funders installed a workshop to help in the making of artificial limbs, shoes and walking crutches for persons living disabilities, but their abrupt pull-out nine years ago left the facility unable to fully operate.

“Not even the polothetic, a position available at Luweero Health Centre IV, can fully handle and execute the required services at the department,” she explained.

According to the acting district health officer, Dr Innocent Nkonwa, they are waiting for the fulfillment of a presidential pledge to have health centre elevated to hospital status, which will ease health service burden at the facility, which currently serves as the district’s sole referral facility.

“This is now our referral facility, offering some of the services meant to be secured at hospital level. The condition is made worse by the location of the facility on the busy Kampala-Gulu highway. The busy road registers several accidents that are first referred to health centre for emergence. I believe even the orthopaedic facility would be fully functional at the level of a hospital where we can be assured of staff, medicines and equipment,” Dr Nkonwa added.

A fully-fledged orthopeadic facility would help the health centre manage cases such as trauma and fracture management, which are often reported every week.

“The correction of some deformities can be handled at such a department; we pray that government actualises the plan to construct a hospital at Luweero Health Centre IV. We are not sitting, but wee keep reminding the concerned government departments since the pledge is now overdue. President Museveni made the pledge in 2008 when he visited Luweero,” said Mr Ronald Ndawula, the district chairperson, in an interview.

Luweero Health Centre IV has an operational annual budget of Shs19m. The allocation is for primary healthcare and excludes funds meant to purchase the drugs, according to Dr Ogobi.

Previously, the facility used to get an annual budget of Shs34m. “These funds cannot allow us fully function as the public expects. This explains why we have a recurring electricity bill,” she said.
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