BUIKWE – The renovation of Kawolo Hospital in Lugazi Town on Kampala-Jinja Highway in Lugazi town, Buikwe District is complete.
The hospital was renovated at a cost of $11.8m (about UGX40b) which was first secured as a debt from the government of Spain, but later was given to the Government as a donation.
Among the many new installations at the hospital is a theatre with up to three units, an accident emergency department equipped with a modern ICU together with computerised tomography (CT) scan that it is able to handle any accident.
Dr. Diana Atwine, the permanent secretary in the ministry of Health, said because of the hospital’s location on one of the busiest roads, it was expanded to give more services to the public.
“The theatre now has up to three units, we have created an accident emergency department which will be equipped with a modern ICU together with computerised tomography (CT) scan such that it is able to handle any accident,” Dr. Atwine said.
Refurbishment of the hospital began in 2017. Until then, Kawolo hospital was among the public health facilities across the country, which are in a sorry state. The facility had spent three years without clean water; a situation that had compromised hygiene at the hospital. The hospital has an in-patient capacity of 122 beds and less than five doctors but serves more than 1.3million people around Buikwe, Buvuma and Mukono districts annually.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has received 10 motorcycles from World Health Organisation (WHO) with support from Irish Embassy to enhance the surveillance and community engagement pillars in Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) preparedness activities. The motorcycles will enable district officers to mentor health staff at the health facilities and in the communities on the identification of alerts or suspected EVD cases, conduct prompt investigations and raise community index of suspicion for EVD.
The motorcycles will be deployed in the 8 high-risk districts bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The districts are Bundibugyo, Bunyangabu, Kanungu, Kasese, Kisoro, Kanunugu, Kabarole and Packwach.
Uganda has no confirmed case of EVD. Active case search continues in all communities, health facilities and on formal and informal border crossing in all districts especially in the high-risk ones. Alert cases continue to be picked, isolated, treated and blood samples picked for testing by the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI).