Kyamuswa County Member of Parliament Hon. Moses Kabuusu has asked the ministry of Health to fully operationalise Kyamuswa/Bukasa Health Center IV in Kalangala district to meet the demands of the community.
While asking questions for an oral answer to the minister of health on the floor of parliament on Thursday, MP Kabuusu Moses said Kyamuswa health center IV has for many years not been operational with no medical officer at a level of a doctor, has no immediate staff that can ran the facility in the absence of the doctor, has no operational theater and many other challenges.
“The equipment which the ministry bought for the laboratory and the theater have since been kept at the ministry and have not been delivered at the health facility. The facility has no solar power to run the fridges that store vaccines. The Patients admitted at Kyamuswa health center IV are referred to Bujumba-heaith center IV and the facility has no boat ambulance to sail patients to other centers.” he said.
MP Kabuusu said the UPDF under their corporate relations with in the public rehabilitated the theater structure and handed it over to the district in February 2021, but the facility has not been equipped to provide services after two years.
He asked the ministry to fully operationalise the health facility, recruit substantive medical officers and offer ambulance services to manage emergencies.
However, the Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, said that operationalisation of a Health Center IV does not only need structures, but also needs human resource and management. She asked Hon. Kabuusu to keep some patience because the facility will soon fully be operationalised.
Kalangala District has a total of 21 health centers. However, some of them (Health Centre IIs) were closed under the new policy undertaken by the Ministry of Health. This left the district with only 15 health centers operating on the scattered 84 Islands that make up the whole district
Kalangala has no major hospital. The district relies on the services of Kalangala and Bukasa Health Centre IVs located in Kalangala Town Council and Bukasa islands respectively. The two health centres handle mainly HIV patients, maternity, and minor illnesses such as malaria and cough.
The district has a population of over 53,000 people according to the statistics from the 2014 Population census. It also has the highest levels of HIV.
Kyamuswa health center IV serves approximately 18,000 islanders on the islands of Bukasa, Bugaba, Buyange, Kisaba, Lwanabatya and Nakibanga. By February 2021, the health facility had 23 staff out of over 40 health workers expected to serve in an health center IV unit.
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