Arua Regional Referral Hospital is operating with only 23 percent of its approved staffing structure, a shortage its acting director says is constraining the hospital’s ability to provide services as demand continues to rise.
The hospital’s acting director, Dr Gilbert Aniku, a senior paediatrician, made the disclosure when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, chaired by Deputy Chairperson Sarah Lwansasula, to respond to audit queries for the financial year ended 2025 on Monday, 14 September 2026.
Dr Aniku told the committee that the hospital serves a catchment population of about 2.5 million people in the West Nile region, including Ugandans, refugees and people crossing the border.
On an annual basis, the hospital handles about 130,000 outpatients and 22,000 inpatients, putting further pressure on its limited human resources and infrastructure.
“Right now, our staffing using the new structure is at 23 percent of the establishment, and this has placed a constraint on our ability to deliver on the services to an optimum level,” Dr Aniku said.
The staffing gap is particularly significant in maternity services. Of the 22,000 inpatients recorded in the year under review, about 7,000 were deliveries, equivalent to approximately 22 deliveries every day.
Dr Aniku said about 40 per cent of the deliveries were by caesarean section, a situation he said was putting strain on the hospital’s already limited infrastructure.
However, he says the hospital expects some relief after Parliament allocated it additional wage funding in the current financial year.
According to Dr Aniku, the funding will allow the hospital to recruit 127 additional staff, raising staffing levels to at least 32 per cent of the approved establishment.
The additional personnel are also expected to support the expansion of specialised services, including intensive care, dialysis and improved emergency care.
The committee also questioned the hospital over medicines worth about Shs148 million that had expired, including antiretroviral drugs and laboratory controls.
Hon. Lwansasula asked the director about the condition of the hospital’s medicine store, which had reportedly experienced high temperatures.
Dr Aniku acknowledged the expiry of medicines and said some of the supplies, particularly the ARVs and antimalarial medicines, had been donations.
He said the hospital had initially responded to the temperature problem by installing fans, but was now putting in place air conditioners to maintain acceptable temperatures in the store.
“The challenge is about the ambient temperature in the store, and we are installing ACs to maintain the temperature,” he said, adding that the work was ongoing after funding became available in the current financial year.
The committee also turned its attention to cancer care, dialysis and other specialised services at the regional referral hospital.
Hon. Karim Masaba (Ind., Industrial Division) said cancer has become a burden affecting even children. He tasked the hospital to explain their response to cancer.
Dr Aniku said cancer was a growing concern in the region, affecting both children and adults. Among children, he said the hospital commonly encounters blood cancers such as leukaemia, as well as cancers affecting organs such as the kidney and liver and cases involving the brain.
The hospital’s ability to diagnose and treat cancer remains limited, forcing it to refer patients to the Uganda Cancer Institute in Mulago or the cancer facility in Gulu.
Dr Aniku said the planned cancer facility in West Nile would eventually help address the gap, although he could not provide a specific date for the start of the project.
On other specialised services, Dr Aniku told the committee that the hospital has an operational oxygen plant and a functional CT scan facility.
Dialysis services, however, are still being developed. He said a facility under the UCREP project is being constructed to accommodate both an intensive care unit and dialysis services.
The hospital has also engaged Kiruddu National Referral Hospital to support the establishment of its dialysis unit, with staff training scheduled to begin in November.
The committee further revisited concerns raised in an earlier audit over inadequate mortuary services and the disappearance of an ambulance worth Shs300 million.
Dr Aniku said the existing mortuary was built when Arua was still a general hospital and does not meet the hospital’s desired standards.
The hospital wants to construct a modern facility with a cold room, pathology facilities and space for post-mortem services, as well as facilities that could support medical students from the nearby university.
However, he said the project had not yet started because of its capital-intensive nature.
On the lost ambulance, Aniku said the matter was still under investigations-Ug. Parliament.
