Increase capacity of Lira hospital

This week, this newspaper reported on the plight of patients who seek treatment at the Lira Regional Referral Hospital. Built around 1928, some of the facility's structures are dilapidated, according to the facility’s authorities.

Although it serves patients from Lango, parts of Teso and Acholi sub-regions, the hospital has only 400 staff members out of the required 1,200 as recommended by the staffing structure of regional referral hospitals.

The facility’s outpatient department (OPD) receives more than 400 patients daily, and those who are admitted have a sad story to tell.

Due to limited space, the hospital keeps mothers who have delivered under tents to free up space for expectant mothers inside the ward. At the children’s ward, three children often share one bed and their caretakers hardly have any place to sit, let alone sleep.

According to the Ministry of Health’s facility master list as of June 2017, Uganda had 6,404 health facilities from all 116 districts registered during the process. These included two national referral hospitals, 16 regional referral hospitals, 153 general hospitals, 26 special clinics, 215 Health Centre IVs, 1,510 Health Centre IIIs, 4,208 Health Centre IIs, and 260 clinics.

According to Uganda's health policy, every parish is supposed to have a Health Centre II, and every sub-county a Health Centre III to provide basic preventive, promotive and curative care and support supervision of the community and Health Centre IIs under their jurisdiction.

We believe that if the health centres in Kaberamaido, Kalaki and Amuria (Teso); Dokolo, Lira, Oyam, Apac, Kwania, Alebtong, Otuke, Kole and Amolatar (Lango); and Agago, Pader and Omoro (Acholi) were fully staffed and stocked with the appropriate medicine, this would ease pressure on the Lira Regional Referral Hospital.

The role Lira Regional Referral Hospital plays in supporting the hospitals and Health Centre IVs is commendable and that is why it should get more staff to match the Ministry of Health’s recommended staffing structure.

Just like the Lira hospital laboratory that is set to be commissioned in a few days, we appeal to the government to provide more funds so that the facility and more like it can get modern structures to handle not only the number of patients but also specialised care.

Finally, to avoid recruiting health workers who will constantly be absent from work because they have to supplement their income by moonlighting, the government should constantly ensure that it recruits and retains staff, especially the specialists who seek greener pastures abroad. This can be done by improving their working conditions and paying them well.