The management of Kawempe National Referral Hospital in Kampala wants the Government of Uganda to increase the capacity of staff at the maternity ward because of an overwhelming number of deliveries.
They argue that the maternity section is understaffed and the midwives are overworked.
Kawempe refferal is an urban, specialised hospital built between 2014 and 2016 at an estimated cost of US$11.3 million (about UGX:40.6 billion).
Hundreds of patients trek and travel to the hospital for treatment with most for pregnancy related issues .
The few beds in the maternity ward are always filled to the maximum forcing some pregnant women to take up the floor space.
Women often struggle to squeeze themselves in the ward and on the floor on mats desperate for attention.
The hospital’s administration says up to 70 mothers give birth at the facility every day and close to 24,000 babies are delivered annually.
Dr Nehemia Katusiime, the Hospital Executive Director, says: “The previous year we had 24,000 deliveries. This financial year because of the pandemic the number came down to 23,000, but that is still a very huge number, so the challenge is the huge number of mothers against the limited staffing levels at the hospital. So you can imagine what the health workers are going through, especially the midwives. I would say the biggest challenge is that one of the human resource versus the high number of patients.”
Dr Katusiime says the referral hospital has 100 health workers instead of the required 476.
Katusiime explains that in addition to the limited human resource, the facility lacks staff quarters.
“We don’t have any staff quarters, people are staying very far. Ideally, the health workers should be near the hospital so that they can be called upon anytime of the day.”
Katusiime says Kawempe National Referral Hospital also needs to expand the maternity ward and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to accommodate the huge number of babies delivered.
“So we hope to get some land for expansions, the Gentleman next to us has promised to sell to us the land because the majority of babies are premature.”
Picture by the Daily monitor
