Floods: Kilembe hospital shifted to Kasese Town

Following the double flash floods that hit Kasese District last Thursday and Sunday, sweeping away all the buildings of Kilembe Mines Hospital, the Kasese Catholic Diocese has resolved to permanently shift the facility to Kasese Town.
The management of the hospital has now shifted all the remaining equipment to St Michael Kindergarten and Day Care Centre and to Kasese Catholic Diocese buildings.
In 2013, Kilembe hospital was hit by the first wave of floods that left the hospital in tatters, displaced all the staff, who, to date have been commuting from Kasese Town to Kilembe, 8kms away, for work.

The hospital then closed for three months but was re-opened weeks later before it was hit by another wave of floods.
Kilembe Mines Hospital has been operating under the tripartite management of Kasese Catholic Diocese, Kilembe Mines Copper Limited and government of Uganda.

Shifted
“We have shifted all our operations and services from Kilembe to Kasese Catholic Diocese at St Michael Day Care and Nursery School, and Kasese Catholic Social Services Hall in Kasese Town. We shall operate fully since the diocese has allocated us the facilities to use,” Mr Onesmus B. Kibaya, the hospital administrator, told Daily Monitor on Tuesday.

He noted that in the meantime, the facility will operate without placenta pits, incinerators and standby generators that were washed away by floods but that all these will be restored soon.
“We shall start with those medical equipment that were rescued from the water as the management finds a way forward but from today (Tuesday), Kilembe Mines Hospital will operate from Kasese Town,” Kibaya said.
The Kasese Municipality mayor, Mr Godfrey Kabbyanga, said after all buildings housing the hospital at the old site were washed away, management was left with no option but to shift the facility elsewhere.

He warned all the residents of Kilembe and the entire Nyamwamba valley that stretches to Nykasanga in Kasese Town to shift from the place since it is a water way and has been proved inhabitable due to floods.
Mr Kabbyanga blamed the floods in Kasese to leaders he termed selfish, accusing them of planning for the town poorly.
He said council was going back to the drawing board to implement the physical planning and draining channel master plan in order to save the little that has remained.

The Kasese deputy Resident District Commissioner, Mr Joshua Masereka, called upon those who settled in the water way to vacate before they are washed away by the floods.
“People must know that water never forgets its original course which means that those who have built in the channel must relocate or else it will chase them forcefully,” Mr Masereka said.

Background

The floods. More than 100,000 people have been affected by floods that hit the district on Thursday destroying gardens, bridges, schools, houses and other properties.
On Sunday, the residents woke up to another wave of flash floods after the torrents hit the district when four major rivers burst their banks on Thursday.
The rives; Nyamwamba, Mubuku, Nyamughasana and Lhubiriha again burst their banks in the wee hours of Sunday morning spilling water into the communities in the low lands putting the lives of hundreds people at greater risk.

[email protected]