By KT Reporter
The residents in Moroto district have expressed gratitude for the enhanced services at the Moroto Regional Referral Hospital but also point out challenges such as the mortuary’s condition and the broken X-ray machine.
On Friday, the hospital held the community Baraza that brought together all the stakeholders, community members, and patients to reflect on what the hospital has done well, and identify areas of improvement. This was part of the accountability intervention to establish whether the facility offers quality services and usage of resources in the hospital.
The community and local leaders expressed appreciation for the hospital’s improved services, highlighting the facility’s commitment to providing quality healthcare to the people in the Karamoja and other neighboring regions such as Teso, Sebei, Bugishu and the Kenyans.
Joseph Otita, the LC3 Chairperson of Rupa Sub County testified that they have experienced good health services from the referral facility compared to the previous years. He observed that health workers are now committed to their work and can attend patiently at any time of arrival, unlike before when they used to harass patients.
Urging the government to consider constructing staff houses for the health workers, Otita also said that the hospital gets many referrals from different parts of the region and this requires health workers to reside within the facility so that they can promptly attend to patients.
Otita also raised the concern about the poor state of the mortuary and the broken x-ray machine that often forces patients to seek services from elsewhere.
He added that the government should support the hospital with all the necessary facilities including the construction of the modern mortuary.
Godfrey Teko, a boda boda rider narrated his ordeal and how he got saved by the hospital when he was involved in a near fatal road accident early last year.
Teko testified that he was taken to the hospital in bad condition but the health workers were able to receive and rushed him into the intensive care unit where he was rescued from danger.
Teko noted that unlike the past the medics used to evade the patients and sometimes only attend to those they knew or related, the facility has improved on the services and the medics often provide them with proper patient care.
Teko noted that the facility is now registering an increased number of patients compared to the previous years when they could flock to Matany Hospital for services which are available at the referral facility.
Robert Olupot, the bishop for Pentecostal Assemblies of God for Karamoja Pastorate said that the testimonies from the community about good health services at the facility is an example that does not happen in other regions.
Olupot noted that such feedback and accountability helps the hospital management to identify the areas of improvements, maintenance and also motivates the medics to continue delivering quality services. He urged the hospital management to continue with the same spirit of delivering better services and save the communities of Karamoja.
Dr Stephen Pande, the Hospital Director acknowledged that over the years, they have seen an improvement in health care and the client satisfaction on the services offered from the facility.
Pande said that there has been general improvement from both inpatients and outpatient department attendance which increased by 40 percent while the especial clinics for the HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B , High blood Pressure and among others increased to 45 percent over the reviewed period of one year.
In terms of client satisfaction, the 2024 statistics released from the Ministry of Health indicated that Moroto regional referral hospital was at 48.8% in September, 43.6% in October, 63.3% for November and shot up to 95.7% in December. For 2025, the report further shows that the client satisfaction in January was at 92.3 %, but in February to May, the records dropped to 79.4 % below and worsened in July when the American President Donald Trump banned the USAID support to African countries.
Pande explained that the withdrawal of USAID support affected the operations in the health facility and most of the health workers under the project were stopped from work. He said that suspension of the USAID support affected 44 health care workers and they could not offer services anymore.
Pande said that they are now trying everything possible to bridge the gaps and regain their momentum of delivering quality health services to the community.
Meanwhile, the Ministry report further revealed that the hospital performance has been gradually improving in the last five years and the breakthrough was in 2022 when they scored 40 % at the national level.
Pande noted that they had to analyze their data and review their weaknesses which were all fixed through the refresher training for the health workers, conducting benchmark visits and motivations.
He said that they later realized some positive change and in 2023, they scored 69% grading them to number six in the entire country. In 2024, they improved further and got 85 percent making them number three after Mubende and Kabaloko regional hospitals.
The hospital administration acknowledged the challenges facing the mortuary and x-ray department, citing efforts by the Ministry of Health to address them.
Pande explained that they have an X-ray machine that was overwhelmed with the high population and they lacked resources for its maintenance. He said that the patients are often referred to Matany hospital in Napak district whenever their machine is down.
Pande said that they have informed the ministry of health about the crisis and they promised to install a new machine soon.
About the poor state of the mortuary which Pande described as a mere storage for dead bodies, he said that the mortuary is simply non-funded but the ministry is considering identifying funds so they can set up a modern mortuary unit.
Pande said that despite the current shortcomings, they remain committed to providing quality health care services to the community.
Moroto regional referral hospital serves to 1.5 million people in the Karamoja sub region and other neighboring areas of Teso, Sebei, and Turkana in Kenya.
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