Govt gets Shs6b to upgrade four health centres in Busoga
Ministry of Health officials hand over the upgrade site plan to Kyeeya Health Centre II team in Kamuli District on Sunday. PHOTO | SAM CALEB OPIO
What you need to know:
- State of health. Whereas the Ministry of Health’s policy stipulates that every district should have a hospital, most districts in Busoga do not have district hospitals. They have to make do with health centre IVs, health centre IIIs and health centre IIs which ill equipped and understaffed.
Ms Harriet Nakisige, a resident of Wanguza Zone in Namwendwa Sub-county, Kamuli District, lost two babies at the hands of a traditional birth attendant (TBA).
At first, Ms Nakisige thought she had a cultural problem.
But when she was advised to attend antenatal visits at Kyeeya Health Centre II, her misfortunes changed and she recently delivered a baby boy at the facility.
In Nkondo Village, Buyende District, Mr Adam Kulaba, 48, nearly killed his brother, accusing the latter of bewitching his children, including one who died. However, after visiting a health centre, he learnt that the child died of malaria and had never been immunised against other killer diseases.
Familiar experiences
The above two experiences are a snapshot of many families in Busoga sub-region who have for long visited witchdoctors and herbalists for medical treatment, and TBAs to be delivered of their babies. The matter has been exacerbated by the absence of or poorly equipped health centres in the area.
But this could soon be history as the government, through the World Bank, has injected more than Shs6.4b in upgrading health centres in Kamuli and Buyende districts.
The rehabilitation will be done under the Uganda Reproductive Maternal and Child Health Services Improvement project.
For Kamuli, the project targets a population of about 100,000 people served by hard-to-reach health centres of Nawandyo (Shs1.6b), Kyeeya and Namwendwa (Shs1.8b).
For Buyende, the project will benefit Kakooge Health Centre II (Shs1.4b) and Nkondo Health Centre II (Shs1.7b). with a total catchment population of about 90,000.
All the four beneficiary health centres are located in sub-counties without health centre IIIs and dominated by sugarcane, fishing and peasant communities, whose health-seeking behaviour is low.
Mr Denis Galabuzi, the project manager from the Ministry of Health, allayed fears of site workers leaving behind children, widows and diseases in the communities, saying all these are taken care of under the international contract agreement.
“This is an international project with social and environmental safeguards to make sure that it does not have a negative impact on the communities,” he said during the handover of the site plan in Kamuli District on Sunday.
Dr Fred Duku, the Kamuli District health officer, said the upgrade of the health centres will also lead to increase in staffing levels from two to at least 18.
Dr Duku added that locals have been trained as volunteer community healthcare workers, village health teams (VHTs) and community vaccinators.
Sr Evelyne Isakuny, the in-charge of Kyeeya Health Centre II, pointed out that their services have been overstretched by a big patient inflow, and the upgrade will enable them to serve the communities better.
Ms Bernadette Kumwidilawo, the district secretary for health and education, said the inclusion of neonatal units at the health centres will save many premature babies from dying, and pledged to ensure supervision of the project.
