Cracked walls at Pakwach Health Center IV worry patients
One of the patients in the cracked Maternity ward at Pakwach Health Centre IV. PHOTO | PATRICK OKABA
What you need to know:
- This has left some patients preferring to sleep under verandahs for safety
An entrance into the Pediatric ward at Pakwach Health Center IV leaves one in awe upon seeing cracked lines on walls running from the roof to the floor with patients innocently risking their lives under it.
Some of the cracked walls are deep, which renders the patients unsafe if the walls collapse. The situation is not different from the ones in the Maternity ward where the walls in the room are also cracked.
This has left some patients preferring to sleep under verandahs for safety because little or no attention has been put into having the walls repaired.
Ms Shamim Adokorach, one of the patients told the Monitor that it has become risky to be admitted to the facility due to the increasing cracks in the walls.
“The nearby community members fear being admitted to the facility because they think that any time walls would collapse due to the cracks that they have developed. You cannot sleep comfortably if admitted in those wards with huge cracks,” she said.
One of the patients admitted to the Pediatric ward, who declined to be named for fear of reprisal, said: “For the past four years that I have been coming to this centre, the walls have increasingly been cracking. One time, I asked a Nurse if she was not afraid to admit me to a building that was near collapse. Authorities should not wait for the walls to collapse on patients before they are repaired.”
The in-charge of Pakwach Health Centre IV, Dr John Bosco Oryema, said they informed the Ministry of Health about the ongoing challenges at the facility but no fruitful information is yet to be received.
“We are experiencing too many cracks on the walls due to high temperature from River Nile since the health facility is situated approximately 20 meters from the River bank,” he said.
Dr Oryema added that since there are many dilapidated structures and limited space, this has forced other patients to sleep under the verandahs.
He adds that the facility is overwhelmed with a large population seeking health services with about 600-800 Inpatients and 2000 Outpatients monthly
