Prime
Hospital to evict 15,000 residents, police station
Part of Gulu Central Police Station. The institution, and Laroo Division Headquarters will be demolished to allow for expansion of Gulu Regional Referral Hospital according to the facility’s expansion plan. PHOTO BY DAVID LIVINGSTONE OKUMU
At least 15,000 residents of Laroo Division and Gulu Central Police Station face eviction as Gulu Regional Referral Hospital expands its boundaries to set up more infrastructure.
The hospital’s master plan includes construction of a new clinical laboratory, emergency rooms, out- patient department and surgery wings, among others, to replace the small and dilapidated structures built during the colonial times.
The district executive committee and hospital management said the affected residents settled on the hospital land which was earlier designated as a burial ground for bodies with no immediate relatives.
Laroo Division headquarters and the police station will be demolished, according to the expansion programme. However, division authorities said the eviction threat will not succeed because the council lawfully acquired the land.
Mr Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, the district chairman, who headed the executive in a meeting on Tuesday, said the municipal council irregularly sold off the hospital land to residents living in Limo slum, adding that the hospital would not be liable for any compensation.
“Gulu hospital lacks space for many things including staff quarters, there is no way we shall continue folding our arms when the health sector is rotting. The illegal occupants have to leave,” he said.
The hospital sits on about five hectares of land. Mr Mike Oloya Tebere, an executive technical officer in Gulu district local government, said once the master plan for the hospital is out, the current inhabitants would be asked to leave peacefully or face forceful eviction.
He said a team of surveyors would soon start surveying the land to enable them submit a comprehensive report to the council. The hospital director, Dr Nathan Onyachi, had earlier said the facility was lacking space for expansion, a situation that has forced many staff to rent outside.
At least 175,769 patients were recorded to have visited the hospital last year.
The hospital has a bed capacity of about 500 but with an expected expansion, the facility will have at least 1,500 beds.
