Health Minister Commissions Shs10.9bn Staff Housing Block at Arua Regional Referral Hospital
The Minister of State for Health in charge of Primary Health Care, Dr. Charles Ayume, speaking during the commissioning event Photo by Matata Benzamin
ARUA – The Minister of State for Health in charge of Primary Health Care, Dr. Charles Ayume, has commissioned a seven-storied staff accommodation block worth Shs10.9 billion at Arua Regional Referral Hospital to ease the long-standing housing shortage and improve emergency response.
The building, funded by the Government of Uganda, provides 21 housing units for staff of the hospital. The project was undertaken by WAP Engineering Limited and started in 2018. It was initially expected to be completed within five years but took about eight years, with delays attributed to funding challenges and the performance of previous contractors.
The commissioning comes at a time when only about 23 percent of Arua Regional Referral Hospital staff have access to institutional accommodation. The new facility is expected to raise the accommodation coverage to about 32 percent, although this remains significantly below the Ministry of Health’s recommended level for a regional referral hospital.
According to Uganda’s Ministry of Health Service Standards, a regional referral hospital serving a population of about two million people should have a bed capacity of 500 and a staffing establishment of about 350 health workers with provision of 200 staff housing units.
Dr. Ayume said the Government is committed to improving health services by ensuring that more health workers live near the hospital premises to enable them respond quickly to emergencies and patients who require urgent care.
“The government has spent a lot of money in this facility and healthcare remains our priority. I want to assure the people of Arua District that one priority health center four is Bondo. We have built a theater, but it is not yet equipped. So I will do whatever I can to ensure because it is fully functional. Paidha is also on my radar, and so many others. Colleagues, health centers will come.” Minister Ayume assured.
He said the Government also plans to strengthen healthcare services at Arua Regional Referral Hospital, by recruiting additional health workers and improve and equip the health center IVs to decongest the referral hospital.
“Five years ago, the theaters in these facilities were not working. Even the one in Omugo in Terego, and they were putting a lot of pressure on the regional fire hospital. So I want to say that we put the right infrastructure in the health center IVs and the right staffing to be decongest the hospital.”
Arua Regional Referral Hospital serves a large population across the West Nile sub-region and also receives patients from neighboring countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, increasing pressure on its services.
Gilbert Aniku, the Senior Executive Consultant at Arua Regional Referral Hospital, commended the government for the accommodation facility, saying it will partly address the housing challenge and enable health workers to remain closer to the hospital and improve emergency response, and also reduce the additional costs and difficulties health workers face when living far from their workplace.
Aniku said the hospital currently employs hundreds of health workers, with another 147 staff expected to be recruited this financial year.
He pledged that the hospital administration would ensure the facility is properly maintained and allocated to the appropriate personnel.
Hon. Fungaro Kaps Hassan, the chairperson West Nile parliamentary Caucus noted that West Nile has a capacity to have a national referral hospital, urging the government to upgrade Arua Regional Referral Hospital to a national standard to ease healthcare services.
“We have made a recommendation that Uganda government should include among the national referral hospitals the upgrade of Arua Regional Referral Hospital to a national referral hospital. A national referral hospital doesn’t have to be in the in the capital city; it can be anywhere.” Fungaro said.
“The national referral hospitals of Uganda now have increased in number. The first was Mulago. They build another one in Kampala, call it Kirudo. They build another called Kawempe. Adding to the one which was there before Mulago and Butabika. All of them are in Kampala. So West Nile has the capacity to have a national referral hospital established.”
According to the Ministry of Health standard, Uganda has more than 16 regional referral hospitals which are designed for 500 beds and about 350 staff, alongside a much broader range of specialized services.