How did we arrive at Nebbi Hospital mess?

Here’s a problem that likely doesn’t have a solution, at least an immediate one, other than time. In those situations, what needs to happen is “lesson learned” so it doesn’t happen again.
The issue regards Nebbi Hospital, which has been forced to put patients in places patients shouldn’t be placed – in spaces meant for toilets and next to highly infectious tuberculosis patients.
The reason it’s happening is that rehabilitation of maternity and male wards, which is a good thing, has caused a space crunch. That has created a bad situation: patients being put in places you might not want to be even if you weren’t a patient.
“I’m scared for my husband’s life now because he can contract TB since we are mixed up with TB patients, which is dangerous to our health,” Margaret Obedi told the Daily Monitor about her husband, who was placed on a veranda next to the TB ward.
To the credit of the hospital administrator, Gilbert Onencan, he admits the situation is not acceptable, saying that it’s temporary and that a solution is being sought.
But what?
“We are going to regulate the number of patients’ attendance and restrict admission at the hospital since TB is transferable,” Mr Onencan says. “We are going to examine the TB patients and discharge them to leave space for other patients.”
That might work, but this question remains: Why did this happen in the first place?
The real problem here is that the problem was predictable and a solution should have been found and put into place before the rehabilitation began. Didn’t hospital administrators and staff anticipate or plan? Didn’t they know that they might be forced to put patients next to people with TB, a highly infectious, often fatal disease, spread through the air when those with TV cough or sneeze?
And then make a decision to put patients without TB near those with the disease, a symptom of which is coughing and sneezing?
If anything good comes out of this, it might be to others facing situations that put people, especially already vulnerable patients, in harm’s way:
Lesson learned?
That’s the hope.

The issue: Congestion
Our view: The real problem here is that the problem was predictable and a solution should have been found and put into place before the rehabilitation began. Didn’t hospital administrators and staff anticipate or plan?