By Philip Wafula & Denis Edema
Authorities at Jinja regional referral hospital want Nalufenya children’s hospital upgraded to a national pediatric hospital in order to handle the surge in patients.
The director of Jinja Regional Referral Hospital, Dr Alfred Yayi, says they are overwhelmed by the number of patients referred to Nalufenya (hospital), whose bed capacity can only accommodate 80 patients, but currently requires 250 beds.
According to Dr Yayi, the hospital last year wrote to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, requesting for an upgrade of the facility to a national children’s referral hospital, and management has been guided to ratify some information.
Jinja regional referral hospital receives about 9,000 outpatients monthly, with about 6,000 of them visiting specialised clinics at Nalufenya, and 3,000 seeking admissions, although Dr Yayi says sometimes the number exceeds.
“Jinja hospital is one of the unique facilities in this country that has two facilities – the main and Nalufenya. However, we are receiving resources for only one referral hospital and the same staff are sometimes overwhelmed,” Dr Yayi said.
He added: “The hospital, with permanent 366 staff and 80 on contractual terms, received Shs2.3b as operational costs, which is shared by both facilities for all activities under one administration and is not enough.”
Dr Yayi says it is “very important” that the government considers upgrading Nalufenya to a national children’s hospital, so that it starts receiving independent resources rather than sharing. “There are four acres of land donated by the Madhvani, which can be enough for expansion,” he says.
Other challenges both facilities are grappling with and need urgent attention, he said, include; insecurity, refurbishing old buildings, unblocking the drainage and sewage systems, and offsetting the Shs2b bill owed to the National Water and Sewerage Corporation.
Also, Dr Yayi says the X-ray machine is “as old as the hospital” and is down, yet the spare parts are no longer on the market, meaning patients are getting X-ray services from private facilities.
He, however, says a computerised tomography (CT) scan has been installed and services are now available at between Shs120,000 and Shs150,000, upon appointment with the consultant doctor.
Additionally, he says the soon-to-be commissioned intensive care unit (ICU) has been upgraded by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Engineering Brigade at a cost of Shs800m, which has seen the bed capacity increase from seven to 20.
“A consultant was contracted and estimated that Shs1.7b and Shs1.5b is required to fence the main referral hospital and Nalufenya hospital respectively.
Ms Mariam Nakito, a resident of Njeru in Buikwe District, says she always treats her children at Nalufenya hospital because it has “specialised and dedicated doctors”.
Mr Johnson Owere, a resident of Busowa village in Bugiri District, says late last year, his child who had malaria was referred to Jinja referral hospital, but he had to share a bed with another patient because the beds were not enough.
Ms Fatuma Naigaga, a resident in Jinja city, says because of the congestion at Nalufenya hospital, some people have resorted to putting up many children’s clinics in Jinja city, whose workers’ professionalism needs to be properly checked.
