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Likely consequences of closing Matany Hospital
A nurse checks on patients at Matany Hospital. Closing the hospital would have a disastrous effect on the Karamoja sub-region. Photo by Steven Ariong.
What you need to know:
According to Gunther, for the last 10 years, the hospital has been receiving Shs580m from government annually in primary health care grants but the money is not enough to cater for the increasing number of patients.
The announcement this month by the management of Matany hospital that the facility could close due to lack of operational funds has left many people in and out of Karamoja in panic.
The hospital, located in Napak District in Karamoja sub region in north eastern Uganda, is a Catholic founded hospital built at the beginning of 1966 to provide health services to the people of Karamoja since there was no health facility in the region by then. The hospital was run with funds from Italian NGOs called CUAMM (Doctors with Africa).
The hospital started as dispensary in 1970 and it was managed by Comboni sisters. At the time of its extension to a hospital, it had only 220 beds. In 1984, the hospital introduced a nursing training school and in 1985, primary health Care (PHC) activities were introduced throughout Bokara County in Napak District.
In 1996, the hospital experienced a serious financial crisis and embarked on lobbying for financial assistance from the government. In 1997, the hospital got a conditional primary health care grant from government.
However, the withdrawal of the hospital’s funders in the past few years has left the hospital in a dire financial state. The news of the hospital’s impending closure was delivered by the hospital administrator Brother Gunther Nahrich on February 19 during the general health assembly organised by Moroto Catholic Diocese in Matany.
Gunther revealed that it is the second consecutive year that the hospital has had to use emergency funding in order to cover the budget deficit of Shs129, 679,367.
According to Gunther, for the last 10 years, the hospital has been receiving Shs580m from government annually in primary health care grants but the money is not enough to cater for the increasing number of patients.
Referral unit
Matany hospital acts a referral hospital for the seven districts within Karamoja sub-region. The hospital has several wards and services including; outpatient department, surgical, medical, paediatric and TB wards, antenatal, laboratory, X-ray, ultrasound scan, dental care and physiotherapy unit, among others.
If Matany hospital closes, the nearest hospital that can offer services similar to those listed above is in Soroti, 180kms, Lacor Hospital in Gulu District about 300 kms or Mbale which is 270 kms away.
The area members of Parliament promised to table the matter before the parliamentary health committee and the office of the First Lady for assistance.
The significance of Matany Hospital
The hospital supervises 11 lower level health units in Napak District and more than 100 traditional birth attendants and 420 Village Health Team members.
According to Dr John Bosco Nsubuga, the hospital’s medical superintendent, during the financial year 2013-2014, Matany Hospital handled a total of 33,074 patients from various regions such as Bugisu, Teso, Lango and Sebei regions in the outpatients department.
However, Nsubuga says the number of patients varies. During the rainy season, the number tends to shoot up.
In the last two years, the hospital provided the following services;
35,950 children immunised
5006 mothers received antenatal care
9,290 patients admitted on the wards
•1,060 births with three deliveries on daily basis.
