Water project quenches Mbarara hospital thirst

Facility. Dr Celestine Barigye, the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital director (left), inspects a water filtration system at the health facility last week. PHOTO BY FELIX AINEBYOONA

What you need to know:

  • Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital is a government owned referral hospital and a teaching hospital for The Medical School of Mbarara University of Science and Technology. The hospital was founded in 1940 and it has a bed capacity of 600. It is the referral hospital for the Western region and specifically for the districts of Mbarara, Bushenyi, Ntungamo, Kiruhura, Ibanda, and Isingiro.

MBARARA. When effects of climate change hit most areas in Western Uganda hard in 2013, Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, the major health unit in the region, was not spared.
Drought caused scarcity of water and pasture, leading to death of livestock and wild animals in national parks and drying up of crops.

River Rwizi, which is the sole source of water that supplies the hospital, almost dried up.
Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL) offered relief by providing an alternative source of water that has ensured consistent water supply to the hospital.

The health facility has a daily population of between 1,000 and 2,000 people.
These include patients, caretakers, health workers, medical students and other support staff.
Under its Water of Life programme, UBL built rain water harvesting system comprising a 200,000 litre underground tank and two overhead tanks, each with capacity of 24,000 liters.

“The water tanks are very important because prior to their installation, we would at times face water shortage because of declining water level in the river or renovation of the water systems by National Water and Sewerage Corporation,” explains Dr Celestine Barigye, the hospital executive director.
He adds: “At times, we would take days without water, but now we have another reservoir. It is very helpful that we no longer get water shortage because when water from National Water and Sewerage Corporation is not available, we pump from the reservoir.’’

Advantages
As a result, the hospital has not experienced water crisis in the last four years. The hospital spends Shs300m on water every financial year.
Given the population of the hospital, the expense would be much higher if there was no other source to supplement National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC).

“In 2014 we were able to save over Shs70m at the end of the year. As I talk now, the hospital does not have arrears because of the water reservoirs. We are not indebted like other hospitals that have a lot of arrears,” Dr Barigye says.
The provision of healthcare at the facility has improved since everything is dependent on constant water supply.
“When it comes to healthcare, you have to be clean, you must wash your hands, and you must clean the theatre. We use flush toilets and we have a large community of more than 400 patients. If everyone is to wash their hands, drink water, use flash toilet systems and clean, then the hospital needs adequate water. Short of that it cannot operate,’’ says Dr Barigye.
The assistant engineer at the hospital, Mr Lauben Mwesigye, says they used to hire water tanks to supply the facility during the dry spell.

“We used to hire trucks to fill our upper tanks so that it can flow by gravity to the hospital but after the construction of the underground tank and other two overhead tanks, we now have enough water at least when NWSC run dry,” says Mr Mwesigye.
Mr Mwesigye adds that sometimes people leave taps in the hospital running, an omission that leads to water wastage and a higher bill.

The UBL corporate relations manager, Ms Rhona Arinaitwe, explains that many communities in Uganda are faced with challenges of finding clean water, a challenge she says prompted them to come up with an initiative dubbed ‘Water for life programme’ to save some communities.

“There are many communities in Uganda that have no access to clean and safe water. In response to this Uganda Breweries has partnered with various agencies in provision of clean, safe and sustainable water supply to communities living in water-stressed areas,” says Ms Arinaitwe.
“This was not the first water of life project we undertook in Western Uganda in the health sector. In 2013, we donated 50 water filters to 22 health centre IVs in eight districts of western Uganda to solve the problem of lack of access to clean and safe drinking water for patients within the wards,” Ms Arinaitwe says.

She adds that annually, UBL invests about Shs500m in Water of Life programme.
Ms Arinaitwe says they will construct 16 boreholes in the Acholi sub region at a cost of Shs440m.
The water sources are expected to directly benefit 4,800 people.

The hospital
Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital is a government owned referral hospital and a teaching hospital for The Medical School of Mbarara University of Science and Technology. The hospital was founded in 1940 and it has a bed capacity of 600. It is the referral hospital for the Western region and specifically for the districts of Mbarara, Bushenyi, Ntungamo, Kiruhura, Ibanda, and Isingiro.