Lack of funds delays opening of Masaka hospital maternity complex

The management of Masaka Regional Referral Hospital has said the government has not released funds to pay for utilities and equip the multi-billion shilling Maternity and Child Complex at the health centre.

In an interview with this publication on Wednesday, the hospital principal administrator, Mr Charles Tumushiime, said although construction of the Maternity and Child Complex was completed by the contractor Tirupati Development Uganda Limited, the government has not yet released Shs600 million for utilities and Shs2 billion for equipping the facility.

“We have not received funds as we expected. This means no works are expected to be done. We are yet to get updates on the delay in the release of funds for this financial year as we were promised,” he said.

“Once we secure that money, we will go ahead and open the complex,” he added.  

Construction of the 400-bed facility commenced in 2015 and was expected to be complete in 2017. The government budgeted for Shs10.6 billion for the project. This facility is meant to decongest the old maternity ward.

Mr Swaibu M. Sulambaaya, the chairperson of Masaka Regional Referral Hospital Patients Association, vowed to stage a strike if the government doesn’t release the funds by July.

“I usually ignore people who test the limits of my patience, but this time I will not. We want to see a functional new maternity complex and if this doesn’t happen by July, I will mobilise the patients to demonstrate and express their disillusionment with the delay,” he said.

Ms Agnes Namukasa, one of the people who seek antenatal services at Masaka hospital, said they were hoping to get improved services at the facility, but completion of the project is taking long.

“We ask the government to prioritise the project and allocate more funds to the hospital,” she added.

Efforts to get a comment from the Ministry of Health Spokesperson, Mr  Emmanuel Ainebyoona, were futile by press time as he did not answer our repeated calls or reply to our text messages.

Background

In September last year, the Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Dr Diana Atwiine, ordered the remodeling of the ground floor of the Maternity and Child Complex, which she said looked more like a hotel than a health facility. However, this has not yet been done but it could delay the opening of the facility.

During an inspection visit to the facility in November 2022, State minister for Economic Monitoring Beatrice Akello decried delays in the completion of this project and pledged to advocate for the release of funds for its completion.