Patients decry lack of privacy
Some of the patients at Butiaba Health Centre III in Butiaba Sub-county, Buliisa District, wait at the veranda due to congestion inside the only functioning room at the facility on Friday. Photo by David Ayebale.
Buliisa- Two months after a devastating storm blew off roofs of government installations in Bullisa District, residents of Butiaba Sub-county are worried about the appalling conditions under which patients live at Butiaba Health Centre III.
The health facility was destroyed by the storm.
The residents say there is virtually no privacy of patients at the health centre because all medical work is done in the same room due to lack of space.
One room serves as an out patient department, maternity ward, dispensary and an Anti-Retroviral Therapy clinic for HIV/Aids patients.
Ms Joyce Ayena, a resident of Piida B village in Butiaba Sub-county, said some HIV patients fear going to the facility for their monthly drug packages because of lack of privacy. She also complained that expectant mothers are giving birth in the same room yet they need maximum privacy during delivery.
A health worker who preferred anonymity said the authorities at the health centre refer expectant mothers to Biiso Health Centre III to deliver.
“Riding four miles to Biiso on a motorcycle on a bumpy road is painful to a woman already suffering from birth pangs. Some women give birth on the way, which is dangerous to the mother and the baby,” Ms Ayena said.
Butiaba Sub-county chairperson, Mr Seremosi Muliimba, blamed government for failing to address the problem with urgency.
However, the district health officer, Dr Samuel Onyait, claimed efforts were being made to rectify the problem.
Buliisa MP Stephen Biraahwa Mukitale attributed government’s delay to rehabilitate the health centre to lack of funds.
“... But we are trying to make a post-disaster assistance follow-up and I am asking organisations to help,” he said.
