Kadaga tasks Parliament to probe Kawempe Hospital over poor services

The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga on Friday tasked the parliamentary Health Committee to investigate poor service delivery at Kawempe Referral Hospital and avail her with a report by Tuesday May 29.

Kadaga made the remarks, after legislators and health experts voiced their concerns on the state of Kawempe Hospital operation theatres, at a health policy makers meeting held in Kampala.

Ntwetwe MP, Joel Ssebikaali, while making his contributions at the state of health service delivery at Kawempe Hospital said: “Out of ten operation theatres only two are functional at Kawempe Hospital. Expectant mothers do not have adequate beds to sleep on and you find majority lying on the ground."

He added that majority expectant mothers, with pregnancy related complications face the challenge of safe delivery due to congestion and inadequate health facilities.

“We need serious action to be taken to avert this situation, to avoid maternal deaths”, he added.

Rossette Kajungu Mutambi, Woman MP for Mbarara said: “Most expectant mothers die on the day they report at health facilities, due to lack of medical attention. We need to reduce maternal deaths to at

least 20 percent."

The meeting was convened to find ways of eradicating pre-eclampsia, a health anomaly in expectant mothers, which is caused mainly by hypertension, according to Dr Annet Nakimuli, Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Mulago Hospital.

“Pre-eclampsia is caused by hypertension and the disease has been around for 200 years”, she said.

Dr. Nakimuli further said the disease is characterised by abdominal pain, which if not attended to at early stages can lead to maternal mortality.

A representative of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Livingstone Makanga said pre-eclampsia is prevalent in Buvuma Island and Mubende district among other regions in Uganda.

Health Systems Advocacy Partnership executive director Denis Kibira called upon government to reduce prices of magnesium sulphate, the drug for treating pre-eclampsia.

He said the drugs are being sold at exorbitant prices, where ordinary peasants cannot afford.

“We want Parliament to increase funding for maternal healthcare, to train healthcare providers and

ensure availability of medicine”, he said.