Buikwe residents petition minister over poor health facilities

Buikwe District woman MP/State Minister in the office of the Vice President, Ms Diana Mutasingwa, pictured handing over relief items such as PPEs, hospital beds, bedsheets, sanitizers to health centres in Buikwe District. PHOTO / DAVID LUBOWA

Residents in the Buikwe District have decried the deploring health conditions and demanded that government provides better health services by upgrading the available health centre II and IIIs in the district.
The demand was made on Saturday to the State Minister in the office of the Vice President and woman Member of Parliament Buikwe District, Ms Diana Mutasingwa, as she delivered medical supplies to the various health III centres in the district.
The supplies that included Protective gears, Hospital beds 100, Bed sheets, Sanitizers, and Mattresses were delivered through the office of the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Ms Jane Frances Kagayi.
It is through the office of the RDC that the call for better health services was raised.
“Njeru does not have a hospital or health centre IV, we still rely mostly on Jinja Regional Referral Hospital because it is closet. However, with the population of Njeru Municipality which has about 150,000 people, we need to make sure that we should have a health centre IV,” Ms Kagayi said.
“With these donations, our health workers will be able to help the communities. They usually concentrate more on the hospitals. So I call upon the government to elevate this Health III of Njeru Municipality to hospital level,” she added.
Ms Kagayi also noted that the district has the capacity to generate revenue to support the hospital once it’s established in the district.
Government pledges
In her response, Ms Mutasingwa pledged heed to the call of the locals.
"As government we are going to assess the different health centres that we are going to upgrade. We are ready to work with the local health centre IIs and IIIs to offer the best healthcare to the people," she said.
Whereas she acknowledged that the government needs to respond to the needs of the locals, Ms Mutasingwa encouraged the district leadership to work together with government the pursuit for quality service delivery for the electorate.
"As leaders, we should come out and work and deliver for the people because like the President said at His swearing in, it is through cohesion that we shall serve the people that entrusted us with leadership," Ms Mutasingwa said.