By James Owich.
The lack of a district hospital in Pader has been blamed for the growing number of maternal deaths.
Dr Anna Apio, the acting District Health Officer says for the last seventeen years, Pader district has been operating without a district hospital and a single gynecologist.
The district was curved out of Kitgum in 2001, and it majorly relies on Pajule Health Centre IV, in Pajule Sub County for its major medical surgeries and emergencies where an ambulance and a clinical officer are deployed.
Apio says the lack of hospital is due to Ministry of Health’s policy that a hospital should serve at least 500,000 people.
According to the 2016 National Population Census, Pader’s population stands at 180,000.
In 2014, the district council demanded that the Ministry of Health elevates Pajule Health Centre IV into a district hospital but health minister Dr Jane Aceng says upgrading the health centre into a district hospital will take some time because the government needs between Shs 5-20 billion.
