Patients at Iganga General Hospital are at risk as frequent power blackouts disrupt critical medical services, forcing the facility to rely on generators to keep maternity, theatre, laboratory and oxygen services running.
The hospital spends about Shs7 million every month on generator fuel, while experiencing between seven and 10 power interruptions a day, hospital administrator Abubakar Waiswa says.
Mr Waiswa says some outages last several hours, forcing the hospital to switch to generators to keep critical services operating.
‘We spend this much money on fuel and end up accumulating debts,’ he said.
Mr Waiswa says the hospital has repeatedly raised the matter with authorities and appealed to the Ministry of Energy, and the Office of the Prime Minister for intervention.
The hospital administrator says stabilising the electricity supply would not only protect critical hospital services but also reduce expenditure on fuel and allow the money to be used for other critical services.
MP recounts family losses
Iganga District Woman MP Mariam Seif says the hospital’s unreliable electricity supply personally affected her family, recounting the deaths of her newborn child and sister at the facility.
‘The biggest issue at Iganga General Hospital is electricity. It is always on and off,’ Ms Seif says.
She says her newborn baby died at the hospital in 2024 after an electricity outage.
‘I delivered my baby, but the power went off while the newborn was still in an incubator, and the child died,’ she says.
Ms Seif says she lost another family member at the hospital in 2025 after staff struggled to secure oxygen.
‘I took my sister to Iganga General Hospital, but because staff delayed to secure oxygen, she died. If I lost those two people, what about others?’ she asks.
The MP says the hospital’s electricity problem requires urgent government intervention because critical services, including incubators and oxygen systems, depend on a stable power supply.
UEDCL plans dedicated line
The Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) Area Revenue Protection Officer for Iganga District, Mr Uthman Musoke, attributes the frequent outages to an ageing electricity network and the long feeder supplying the area.
Mr Musoke says the Bugiri feeder stretches for about 500kms, increasing its exposure to faults, including those caused by trees falling on power lines.
‘Our network is very old, and we need to refurbish it,’ he says.
Mr Musoke says UEDCL is installing new breakers and has proposed a dedicated electricity line from the sub-station to Iganga General Hospital.
He says the proposed line will shield the hospital from faults affecting the longer feeder and provide more reliable electricity to critical services.
However, Mr Musoke says implementation depends on funding and approval from the responsible ministry.
Leaders demand action
Iganga District chairperson Isabirye Shabiru Kalulu says the hospital urgently needs a dedicated power line, noting that the electricity problem has already been raised in Parliament.
‘The biggest issue is power. It was raised on the floor of Parliament so that they put us on a line that does not go off,’ he says.
Mr Kalulu says the unstable electricity supply is particularly concerning because the hospital now serves patients from several neighbouring districts, despite having been built to serve only Iganga.
‘The hospital serves patients from neighbouring districts, including Bugiri, Bugweri, Kaliro, Luuka and Mayuge, yet it remains a district hospital whose budget and medical supplies are planned for one district,’ he says.
Mr Kalulu says the hospital has a large catchment area and urgently needs a reliable electricity supply.
He also asks that the facility be elevated to a regional referral hospital.
He calls for increased government funding to enable the hospital to meet recurrent costs, including fuel, electricity and equipment maintenance, saying some suppliers have been providing fuel on credit due to funding constraints.
Hospital faces other challenges
Beyond the power crisis, the hospital also faces a 35 percent staffing gap, overcrowding, dilapidated structures and shortages of diagnostic equipment, ambulances and a functional blood bank.
According to hospital officials, the facility has a bed capacity of about 1,000, but sometimes admits more patients than it can accommodate, forcing some to sleep on the floor, while some health workers attend to as many as 20 patients.
Iganga General Hospital, located in Nakavule on the Jinja-Tororo Highway, was constructed in 1968 and sits on an estimated 22 acres of land.