The Hoima City mortuary, a facility constructed in the 1960s, is in a deteriorating state and lacks basic mortuary facilities, despite serving the entire region including Hoima Regional Referral Hospital and neighbouring districts.
The mortuary, located about 200 metres from the Hoima city centre behind Hoima Central Police Station in Isaka Village, sits on a 50 by 80 feet plot of land and remains the only mortuary serving Hoima City, as well as the districts of Kikuube District and Buliisa District.
Constructed when Hoima was still a town council in the 1960s, the facility was originally meant to temporarily keep bodies before relatives collected them for burial.
Unclaimed bodies were also buried on the same land, which was then about five acres. However, over time, much of the land has been sold off or encroached on due to population pressure.
The facility currently lacks critical mortuary requirements such as a pathologist, electricity, running water, refrigeration, an examination room, and security.
Despite these shortcomings, the same structure continues to serve the city and surrounding districts in 2026.
A visit to the facility shows an overgrown compound that appears abandoned, with only a small cleared area near the building where bodies are placed before being picked up by relatives.
Several unclaimed bodies are buried within the same compound.
City authorities say the mortuary and burial ground are overwhelmed, as a facility originally meant to serve a small town council now serves an entire region.
“We indeed know our mortuary is overwhelmed. We have been making efforts to find funds for renovations and possibly buying land elsewhere outside the city, but funding is not forthcoming,” said Sylvia Nalumaga, the Deputy Mayor of Hoima City.
Badru Mugabi, the City Commissioner, said government should compel other districts, as required under the Public Health Act, to establish their own mortuaries and burial grounds to reduce pressure on the Hoima facility.
“Maybe we would not be where we are right now, but districts keep bringing their dead bodies to us. The cost of burying is expensive. We want these districts and the hospital to have their own mortuary,” he said.
The Director of Hoima Regional Referral Hospital, Dr Ibrahim Bwaga, said the current mortuary lacks facilities necessary for conducting postmortems and training medical interns.
“We not only need a mortuary, we also need a cemetery. Our hospital is a teaching hospital, but we don’t have a mortuary where interns can train. Sometimes people dump bodies at the hospital gate and we end up taking them to the city mortuary, which is also just a mortuary by name,” he said.
Residents living near the mortuary say unclaimed bodies are sometimes left there for long periods, causing foul smells in the area.
They also claim that some graves are shallow and occasionally animals exhume body parts, posing a public health risk and raising concerns about the dignity of the deceased.
Currently, the city authorities are seeking about Shs50 million to renovate the existing facility, and approximately Shs160 million to purchase land for the construction of a modern mortuary and cemetery, but the funds have not yet been secured.
