In a bid to improve access to healthcare services in rural areas, Rotarians under districts 1980, 9213 and 9214 have donated tricycle village ambulances to selected health facilities around the country to boost mobility and connectivity .
The donation of over 117 villages ambulances initiative aims to bridge the gap in healthcare access, particularly for the children, pregnant women, and those with disabilities under the rotary’s program ‘Mother and Child Health of Rotary’ (MCHR).
The t tricycle ambulances, designed to navigate rough terrain, will provide a reliable and efficient means of transportation to medical facilities.
According to Rotarians, this will reduce the risk of complications and fatalities resulting from delayed medical attention.
Past District Governor (PDG) of District 9214, Emmanuel Katongole said the rotary’s assessment revealed that most health facilities in remote areas are far reaching areas affecting health service delivery prompting them to launch the initiative.
“We have a definite number of health facilities that going to benefit from our first phase of this project and our target is to give out to 300 health centers in the first phase” Katongole added.
Katongole appealed to all well-wishers to join the initiative of serving humanity and addressing pressing community needs through such donations saying, “I lost my own sister when she started bleeding up to until lost her life after giving birth simply because she couldn’t get away to the hospital in time, so I know what it means and I urge every Ugandan to really come out to help in this”
He also urged all health workers who will be operating the ambulances to also carefully provide maintenance and necessary support to ensure the longevity of the initiative.
“It will be very unfortunate to find someone carrying matooke, charcoal in the ambulance, these ambulances are strictly patients especially mothers and children” PDG appealed.
The tricycle ambulances will be distributed to select rural villages, where they will be operated by trained healthcare workers in order to strengthen healthcare systems in rural areas.
In the same vein, Rotarians handed toll free contacts that will used at every health facility with an ambulance to ease communication issues.
According to Peace Taremwa, the Past District Governor of Uganda and Tanzania, Rotarians are expected to also embark on other humanitarian projects including provision of water sources in health facilities, training mid wives, equipping health facilities among others to boost health systems across the country.
The initiative was also supported by the ministry of health , World Health Organization (WHO) among other partners.