Kiruddu hospital to be closed

Story by Tabitha Agaba

After numerous complaints from the residents of Kiruddu, the directorate of health at KCCA has taken a decision to close Kiruddu Hospital

This comes barely two weeks after the government declared it a semi-autonomous referral hospital

The hospital was constructed at a cost of $10.3m (about sh26b) loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB). Completed in December 2015 and upgraded from a health Centre IV to hospital status, Kiruddu has capacity for 170 in-patients.

The notice of closure signed by the director of public health, Dr. Daniel Okello says the move is intended to avert the spread of diseases like Cholera.

KCCA’s notice dated April 26, stated that the facility has become a nuisance to the community, something which they say Mulago management has failed to control.

http://nilepost.co.ug/2018/05/02/kawempe-naguru-kiruddu-approved-as-referral-hospitals/

One of the residents who lives a few metres from the hospital says that the sewerage flowing out of the hospital is detrimental to their health because of the possible poor hygiene-related diseases such as Diarrhoea, Cholera and Dysentery that are likely to come out of this.

John Kalanzi, a neighbour to the hospital, says that the sewerage follows right into his compound and this has left a terrible smell around his home .Despite his numerous complaints to the hospital administration nothing has been done to address this issue by the authorities.

The minister of health Sarah Opendi had earlier promised to secure two billion shillings to be able to link the hospital sewerage line to the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) line. However failure to do this has led to the closure of the hospital.