Butabika Hospital is seeking Shs2.5bn to complete the construction of a 2.5 km perimeter wall fence, to reduce cases of patients escaping from the facility, which may not only pose a danger to the community around but also endanger the lives of these patients.
“The wall fence is still half done and as a result, many patients use the undone section to escape from the hospital. This is a big danger to them and the community. We also end up spending a lot of money on fuel to pick them from the roads as they escape,” noted Juliet Nakku, Executive Director of Butabika Hospital, while appearing before Parliament’s Health Committee.
Butabika Hospital has also asked Parliament to increase its budget for meals to Shs4.7bn, against the Shs2.439bn that has been availed.
According to Nakku, 313,000 patients are fed annually at an average cost of Shs6,187 which includes breakfast, lunch and supper, however, the ideal cost of feeding each patient should be Shs15,000 for three meals daily.
“The current inpatient numbers are averaging 1200 daily in admission as against the bed capacity of 550. these patients get 3 meals per day which means that we have to improvise within the available budget. There is a need to increase this budget since food is part of the treatment and the hospital takes full charge of patient feeding,” added Nakku.
China-Uganda Friendship Hospital
Meanwhile, the Director of China-Uganda Friendship Hospital, in Naguru, Dr. Emmanuel Tugaineyo, has decried the inclusion of the name China on the hospital.
Dr. Tugaineyo made the remarks while appearing before Parliament’s Health Committee where he had appeared to defend the 2024/25 national budget, and noted that the nomenclature of the hospital has isolated it from the main financial partners from the West who prefer not to associate their money with anything to do with China.
According to him, this has alienated the hospital from receiving support from Western donors, yet the Chinese Government mostly provides the hospital with acupuncture needles and gloves.
“The name China-Uganda Friendship Hospital has alienated us from implementing partners. You know the people who wouldn’t want to put their money where that name is and yet they are the main funders and implementing partners. The Government feels the Chinese are helping us and yet they aren’t. What they bring us in kind usually contain acupuncture needles, gloves, things like that,” said Tugaineyo.