Patients seeking medical care at Nsozi Health Centre III in Butole Parish, Kyangwali Sub-county, Kikuube District, are spending long hours in queues as the facility struggles to cope with a growing number of people seeking treatment.
Some patients say they are sometimes forced to wait for hours only to leave without the medicines they need because of shortages at the facility. Enock Tumwesigye, a patient at the health centre, says the increasing number of patients has made it difficult for them to access timely treatment.
He wants the government to upgrade the facility, increase its medicine budget, and ensure that essential drugs are delivered on time.
The facility receives between 900 and 1,200 patients every month, according to statistics obtained from the health centre. It serves residents from within and outside Kyangwali Sub-county, including some refugees from the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement.
Although the facility was originally designed to serve a catchment population of about 3,990 people, it now serves more than 5,000 people from 43 villages in Butole Parish. Margret Ayebale, the facility in-charge, says the growing patient numbers have placed unsustainable pressure on the health centre’s limited infrastructure, medicines and health workers.
“The facility faces severe overcrowding, critical bed shortages, and extreme strain on the few available health workers deployed here,” Ayebale said. According to Ayebale, the health centre has only 10 staff members against the recommended 55, creating a major staffing gap and forcing the available workers to work beyond the recommended hours. She says the facility also receives patients seeking services that should ordinarily be provided at a Health Centre IV.
Ayebale says essential medicines, including anti-malaria drugs, antibiotics and vaccines, are frequently depleted because of the increasing patient numbers. She adds that other supplies such as syringes, gloves, catheters and gauze also often run out.
Justine Atuhura, a resident of Nsozi, says overcrowding is particularly severe in the maternity ward and has appealed to the government to construct additional structures to accommodate the growing number of patients.
Speranza Asaba, another patient, wants the government to deploy more health workers to the facility to ease the pressure on the existing staff.
Michael Muhende, a resident of Butole, says the government should increase the supply of medicines to match the growing number of patients. He says some patients are sometimes turned away or advised to seek treatment at private facilities because of drug shortages and the high patient load.
The pressure has also prompted calls from local leaders for the facility to be upgraded to a Health Centre IV. Emmanuel Bisemeza, the Kyangwali Sub-county LCIII Chairperson, says the sub-county leadership has repeatedly asked for the health centre to be elevated but has not received a response.
He says a motion seeking the upgrade was tabled before the sub-county council and forwarded to the district and the Ministry of Health, but no feedback has been received. Kikuube LCV Chairperson Paddy Kisembo says upgrading the facility is necessary to improve access to health services for residents.
Kisembo says many health facilities across Kikuube District are facing similar challenges, including overwhelming patient numbers, drug shortages, inadequate staffing and limited infrastructure. He says the district leadership is aware of the challenges but lacks sufficient financial resources to address some of them.For residents of Butole Parish, however, the immediate concern remains the same: reducing the long queues, ensuring medicines are available, and expanding the facility to cope with the growing demand for health services-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
