Government must make all health centres work
What you need to know:
- The issue: Health centres
- Our view: Most importantly, the government should take, in good faith, the advice that it takes health of citizens seriously, especially that of mothers, who seek labour-related medical attention, to ensure safe deliveries.
The country has been hit by a depressing story coming from the north-eastern district of Moroto in Karamoja Sub-region. The Tuesday edition of this newspaper reported an astonishing story that the maternity ward at Kakingol Health Centre III in Moroto District is cleaned using sand due to lack of water.
The story also states that nurses at the facility tell attendants of mothers who deliver at the centre to collect sand, which is poured on the floor to absorb and dry blood discharged by mothers during labour and the sand is then swept off the floor. A nurse at the facility confirmed that they have no water at the centre.
A mother, who earlier gave birth at the centre, said: “As mothers who deliver from this facility, we are used to the situation. It is not our first time to experience that as long as God helps us to deliver well.” It is that bad.
The greatest challenge the government faces is ineffective delivery of social services, especially in the health sector. There has been countrywide complaints against poor provision of health services. Patients visit public health hospitals only to find no drugs, they are asked to carry their own paper on which prescriptions are written for them, health workers are indifferent, and while patients, who are supposed get free treatment, they are told to buy the prescribed medicines.
We applaud the government for constructing the Specialised Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare Unit at Mulago. This will go a long way in helping expectant women to access quality delivery services. However, while the hospital remains a government facility, the fact is that it will only be accessible by a few women with the means – women who can afford the cost of specialised services. Trouble is, given the over the roof prices the hospital is set to charge, the majority of women will be left with no choice, but to resort to seeking maternity-related attention at health centres.
Therefore, there is urgent need for the government to prioritise improving health centres countrywide. This necessitates that government stocks these centres with medicines, staff them with health workers, procure requisite equipment and other supplies to facilitate their work, pay staff adequately and on time to motivate them, connect power to the centres, and where there is no piped water, water tanks should be provided.
Most importantly, the government should take, in good faith, the advice that it takes health of citizens seriously, especially that of mothers, who seek labour-related medical attention, to ensure safe deliveries.
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