By KT Reporter
The construction of a state-of-the-art Gynecology and Obstetric Fistula Ward at Lira Regional Referral Hospital (LRRH) is nearing completion, with physical works finalized and only the installation of equipment and official commissioning remaining.
Construction began in November 2025 and is being undertaken by Nabyalen Construction and General Supply Company Limited. The project is funded by partners under the MUSA Project based in San Diego, California, USA. Upon completion, the UGX 600 million facility will expand the hospital’s current gynecology ward capacity from 10 beds to 45 beds.
The new unit will be fully equipped with hospital beds, operating tables, anesthesia machines, and patient monitors. It will also include a conference room and office space for nursing staff and doctors. Dr. Andrew Odur, the hospital’s Acting Director, said the partners were moved to support the project after witnessing the conditions under which such sensitive services were being delivered.
Currently, the hospital’s maternity ward, originally designed to accommodate 12 beds, handles an average of 40 or more mothers daily. The postpartum ward, built for 20 beds, is also frequently overwhelmed, forcing some mothers and caregivers to sleep on the floor or outside the ward.
Health Minister and Lira City Woman MP, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, acknowledged the congestion in the gynecology ward, saying expansion was long overdue. “That female ward is small, very small. I think it had only 12 beds, but on a daily basis, Ugandan women of childbearing age deliver up to 1.5 million children, actually 2 million, so if the number of people is increasing by 2 million per day, that ward was constructed in 1923, can we still fit in that ward?” she wondered.
Dr. Aceng cautioned parents and young girls against teenage pregnancies, which she described as a major contributor to gynecological complications in the Lango sub-region.Luo bite:
“We shall be happy if our young girls do not start giving birth at a tender age before their bodies fully develop and that ward remains empty,” she said. Meanwhile, a gynecologist from Lira Regional Referral Hospital is currently being supported to undertake a fellowship program in urogynecology and female pelvic floor reconstructive surgery to strengthen specialized care at the facility.
-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
