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Mbarara hospital seeks national referral status
The permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health, Dr Diana Atwiine (centre), Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital Director Dr Celestine Barigye (2nd left) and other visitors at the hospital on June 7, 2022. PHOTO/ FELIX AINEBYOONA
What you need to know:
- Speaking at the commissioning of the MRRH Histopathology and Research Laboratories on Tuesday, Dr Barigye said the hospital has 33 specialised services and needs more staff and equipment to enable them handle health challenges.
- Mbarara City Resident Commissioner Rtd Lt Col James Mwesigye supported the request, saying the population in the area has increased, which has increased pressure on health workers in the area.
The Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH) director, Dr Celestine Barigye, has asked the government to consider upgrading the facility to a specialised national referral hospital.
Speaking at the commissioning of the MRRH Histopathology and Research Laboratories on Tuesday, Dr Barigye said the hospital has 33 specialised services and needs more staff and equipment to enable them handle health challenges.
“We serve a population of 5.7 million people from the 13 districts of Greater Ankole. MRRH is placed strategically to handle challenges that these people come up with,” he said.
Dr Barigye said once the facility is upgraded to a national referral, they will be able to offer more services, including research.
“We are agitating to have a national referral not only for Mbarara but the whole country so that we can get more staff, more budgets and more consultancy so that work can be done here and the university [Mbarara University of Science and Technology] can also benefit from teaching these people here from Ministry of Health,” he said.
“The hospital has eight operational rooms; we are currently using four of them. We need more anaesthesia machines, theatre tables, and we have more requests,” he said.
Dr Barigye also requested the government to give Isingiro District a general hospital to handle the cases of expectant mothers who reach the facility in a bad shape.
Mbarara City Resident Commissioner Rtd Lt Col James Mwesigye supported the request, saying the population in the area has increased, which has increased pressure on health workers in the area.
The Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Dr Diana Atwiine, said the government does not have funds to upgrade the hospital to national referral status.
She said priority has been given to the enhancement of salaries for health workers starting next month.
“It is a future plan but right now because of limited resources, we cannot do everything as before. We have to do it one by one and now we must ensure that our staff get better pay, which increases the budget on the wage bill. That means development will be affected,” Dr Atwiine said.
She added: “But I know that over time, these hospitals will be upgraded and our focus is on ensuring that our common person gets services nearer to him by making sure that every sub-county has a fully equipped health centre III.”
Dr Atwiine asked the hospital authorities to draw a master plan for the development of the facility.
Background
Some of the specialised services offered at MRRH include; nephology, cardiology, endocrinology, ophthalmology, dermatology, pathology neurology, neurosurgery, paediatric surgery, urology, radiology, tumour markers for lab, blood film reports, gene experts, plastic surgery, orthopaedic surgery, oncology, paediatric oncology, dental surgery, paediatric surgery, and anaesthesiology.
