Overcrowding at Masaka Regional Referral Hospital maternity ward has forced management to improvise tents to accommodate caregivers, Daily Monitor has established. Previously, caregivers could occupy corridors within the maternity ward to help the mothers, but rising numbers can no longer allow them to sleep inside the ward. Masaka Regional Referral Hospital Administrator, Mr Robert Mpanga yesterday confirmed the development, saying they provided the tents to address the current congestion inside the maternity ward.
‘The tents in the compound of the maternity ward house caregivers, but not mothers as it is perceived by the public. As management, we decided to have care givers housed out of the ward to create more space for more mothers that seek services at the facility,’ he explained during an interview on Wednesday.
The situation has been exacerbated by the government’s delay to complete the multibillion Maternity and Child Complex whose construction has dragged on for a decade due to delays in releasing funds.
Initially, the project was expected to cost Shs10b, but changes in the designs to include an intensive care unit have since pushed the cost to Shs12.2b. The hospital management had earlier indicated that they need Shs600 million for utilities and another Shs2 billion for equipping the complex. Mr Mpanga said they are currently mobilising local funds to ensure that the complex is utilised.
‘The structure is magnificent, but we cannot occupy it when we cannot pay the utility bills, once we address that, we shall be in position to shift and solve that issue of congestion,’ he added.
The Monitor has learnt that the multibillion ICU equipment which the government donated to the facility during the Covid-19 pandemic is also still lying idle in the hospital store due to delayed completion of the same complex where it is supposed to be installed.
Currently, patients have to seek ICU services from either Kampala or Mbarara both located over 100km away. The hospital management’s decision to house caregivers in the tents has however attracted bitter reactions from health activists in the Masaka Sub-region, who say that it is risky given that the current wet season is characterised by heavy rain, which sometimes last several hours.
Mr Swaibu Makumbi Sulambaaya, a health rights activist, asked the government to swiftly intervene and ensure the new maternity and child complex is operationalised. ‘The new maternity and child complex was aimed at decongesting the old maternity ward constructed in 1950s, but the project has taken long to be completed ,’ he said, adding ‘ In 2017, some of the hospital administrators allegedly mismanaged Shs5 billion meant for the same project, but were simply transferred to other hospitals. Let them be hunted down to refund the money and save our people from sleeping in tents.’
Once completed, the facility will also have two theatres, a gynecology unit, antenatal and neonatal centres, labour and post-natal wards. It will also have a pediatric, nutrition and adolescent health units, all with modern equipment. This complex was set up to decongest the old maternity ward, which has outlived its purpose.
THE HOSPITAL
Constructed in 1927, Masaka Regional Referral Hospital serves eight districts: Masaka, Rakai, Lyantonde, Lwengo, Ssembabule, Bukomansimbi, Kalungu and Kalangala. It takes care of more than two million people. Being on the busy Mombasa- Kampala-Mbarara-Kigali highway, makes it the first point of call for patients, mainly accident victims. Consequently, the hospital’s average daily contact with patients is 1,800, with about 360 admissions daily.