Gayaza residents ask govt to prioritise health services

WAKISO. 

Residents of Gayaza in Wakiso District have asked government to prioritise health services especially for pregnant mothers to enable them access better medical care. 

The call was made yesterday during a free health camp services at St Ritah medical centre, a Christian based health facility in Kabubi.

The health camp was organized by the administration of the facility following an outcry of limited services in the area by the residents.

Some of the residents who had camped at the facility told Daily Monitor that they couldn’t trek the long distances to access health services, saying that government should consider extending services to the people. 

Ms Mary Nakyanzi, 50, and a mother of seven said that even if they walked long distances to access health services in public facilities, drugs are always less because they serve a big population. 

“For instance, we have to walk to Kasangati Health centre IV to access health facilities, but this distance is very tedious especially for the elderly yet they don’t have money to go to private health facilities,” she said. 

Ms Nakyanzi said that the inadequate health services in the area leaves residents scared, adding that their plea to government to extend services to them, hasn’t yielded any fruits. 

Such a health gap, Ms Nakyanzi said, puts government on spot for putting the lives of people at risk. 

“A sick population hurts the economy and this is the reason government must ensure that issues of health are thoroughly addressed. Wakiso has the biggest population but the services are minimal, leaving people stranded,” she said. 

At the camp, all people who attended received free medical services among which was testing, counselling and they walked away with medicine. 

Mr Nelsonner Dhiobuazie, the founder of St Ritah medical centre said that he was inspired to set up a health facility by the appalling health situation which he said needs urgent intervention. 

“Having passed through hard times during childhood, I decided to set up this facility to render services to the vulnerable people and my dream is to improve their lives through health and education,” he said. 

The facility, Mr Dhiobuazie said, was built with support of donations from partners especially in Italy where he grew up from. 

“Through this, we are able to save the lives of many people. Personally I am an orphan and I was raised by some other people and that’s why I must also give back to the community through offering health services. 

He challenged government to proprieties health and education, arguing that these are the two major services which a country must prioritise to improve people’s standards of living. 

Daily Monitor did a spot-check to Kasangati health centre IV to get the picture of what goes on and found an overwhelming number of patients who had camped to access services. 

A nurse who spoke to us on condition of anonymity said that the overwhelming number of patients leaves medical workers exhausted. 

She noted that drugs at times get finished so fast due to the overwhelming number of patients. 

“We have always done our best as health workers but we are constrained at some point especially when the numbers are overwhelming,” she said.