Community donations easing service delivery at Kabale Hospital

The Kabale regional referral hospital director Dr Sophie Namasopo (Right) receives a donation of masks and oxygen regulators worth Shs6.5m from Good Gaali well wishers at the health facility on July 23. PHOTO/ROBERT MUHEREZA.

What you need to know:

  • Kabale District has over 50 Covid-19 cases, as of July 26. 

‘‘Without donations, service delivery would be complicated at Kabale hospital in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic,’’ Kabale regional referral hospital director Dr Sophie Namasopo has said.  

Dr Namasopo adds that whereas she appreciates the ministry of health and its partners for equipping the health facility with drugs, human resource and equipment, community members have played a great role in supporting health service delivery at the hospital. 

She said this on July 23 while receiving a donation of 10-oxygen regulators and boxes of surgical masks worth Shs6.5m from Good Gaali, a local NGO operating in Kabale town. 

“We thank community members for their generosity and endless donations to support health service delivery. We had budgeted for about 40 Covid-19 patients per day in the first wave but in the second wave the numbers increased to 80 per day,’’ she noted. 

Good Gaali and its partners in the United States of America (USA) have been working with ‘care givers’ at the children’s ward where they have been offering food and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) regularly for almost one year.

Similarly, self-proclaimed Old men and Women of the Covid-19 treatment centre have been contributing food and fruits to coronavirus patients.  

Some other notable donors towards the hospital's Covid-19 fight include Stanbic bank that has given the health facility up to 40-oxygen cylinders while Kabale University played a vital role in remodelling the Intensive care building.  

Alongside Africa, a local NGO now donates about 100 plates of hot meals every day to the Covid-19 treatment center.   

Dr Namasopo said: ‘‘Minister of State for Trade,   Industry and Cooperatives, aided the hospital with 10-oxygen regulators and the World health Organization (WHO) and Unicef and other partners have done a great job in extending technical support and medical supplies.” 

Owners of different community groups and NGOs that have been contributing material support to the hospital Covid-19 treatment center say that they were attracted to give donations in response to the DHO’s call for provisions. 

‘‘We mobilized resources together with our partners in the US and we managed to buy about 5,000 face masks and 10 oxygen regulators worth Shs6.5M= which we delivered to Kabale hospital on Friday,” the regional coordinator of Good Gaali, Mr Noordin Kasoma said.

The acting Kabale DHO acknowledged the role of community members in improving health standards and service delivery. 

“These donations have supplemented government releases and our patients are benefiting a lot from this hospitality,” Mr Besigensi said.