The Assistant Resident District Commissioner (ARDC) Kajjansi Town Council, Hajj Amir Nantalaga has urged medical workers at Kajjansi Health Centre 4, to carry on their service delivery to patients, despite a number of challenges facing the facility.
While addressing journalists following an impromptu visit at the facility on Tuesday, alongside the Kajjansi deputy District Internal Security Officer, (DISO) Mr Grace Isabirye, Hajj Nantalaga noted that despite the facility being faced with a number of challenges, a tour and interaction with both the staff and patients attested to proper service delivery at the hospital.
“We found a problem of water shortage at the hospital being a major factor, since it can go off for a month, disrupting service delivery at the hospital, leaving the in charge to devise a number of means to supply the water in the facility” he said.
He further decried the low staffing numbers at the facility, which is further hampered by shortage of staffing quarters to house the few available medics at the facility.
“The medical officers are very few compared to the patients, they have 30 percent of the numbers required which is still low. A doctor works 24 hours the whole week which drains their energy, the staff also lack housing forcing them to move long distances, even the doctor himself doesn’t reside around here” he said.
Following it’s upgrade from a health centre 3 to a health centre 4, the number of patients received by the facility has increased from the four surrounding town councils of Kajjansi, Kasanje, Katabi and Bussi, whose wide population it serves.
“You find the maternity ward when new mothers are squeezed, which has forced the hospital to see off the new mothers very early in the past two days due to lack of space, but we hope the new ward being constructed by the UPDF engineering brigade will address that issue because the numbers here are many and continue to grow which shows the good services our doctors are providing” Hajj Nantalaga said.
Hajj Nantalaga further revealed that the visit was aimed at ensuring the medics at the facility attend to the patients as per the required regulations.
The hospital in charge Dr Simon Peter Bulwa, who decried the low staffing at the facility among other things, said he was hopeful the visit will enable the facility acquire a number of things required at the facility.
“Am glad that the RDC interacted with the patients, whom he found were pleased with our services which shows that they appreciate the care we give them. We hope that the visit will also see us acquire some of the things we lack, since he has promised to write a report to the president of what we lack to improve our services for the people” he said.
Dr Bulwa noted that the facility requires 130 staff to run it but is currently at 43 workers, of which 33 percent of those are non clinical and the clinical staff are only 18 percent.
“After operations, there are few spaces for patients to occupy, but currently the construction of a three storey ward by the UPDF engineering brigade, is giving us hope for space expansion and also for an outpatient ward in the future” he said.
He further noted that the hospital last year received new ambulance donated by the Japanese government, replacing a Tuk-Tuk ambulance that had been used for patient referrals, an incinerator for burning rubbish, new toilet and new ward under construction, a perimeter wall fence which has improved security and sealed off potential land grabbers from the land.
