By Micheal Atwakiire
Sheema: People living in Sheema district and surrounding areas are headed for severe health risks, because the government health centre in the district is in a deplorable state.
Although, people run to health centrers to be treated and recover from their illnesses, those who go to Kabwohe Health Centre IV are likely to instead get affected more from the government health centre, because of its worrying state.
Our Spies who have visited the main health centre for Sheema municipality reveal that there are no toilets and the facility is under staffed with qualified medical personnel. The health centre found in the heart of Sheema municipality, has become a huge health risk for people in the area, because of its very unhealthy state.
The facility which receives over 650 patients daily has only one toilet with three doors, which is shared by women, children, men and medical personnel. Worse still is that these toilets are full to capacity and pupu is overflowing all over. Snoops also realised that the toilets meant to be used by medical personnel are also full, which forced them to share toilets with patients.
Worse still, the health centre lacks surgical doctors and other medical equipments, which has left many people, especially pregnant women in a sorrowful state, whereby if a woman needs to be operated, she must be transferred to Mbarara or Bushenyi districts where there are more aequipped hospitals. However, the Sheema municipality health officer Dr Denis Tumusiime said they are trying to put everything in order.
“It’s true we don’t have toilets at our Health Centre. But we have already written to the ministry of health to give us money such that we can construct two toilets because our people are suffering.”
He added that “For surgery, we don’t have a doctor to operate our mothers or anyone who needs operation; but what we do is transfer them to Mbarara Referral Hospital. We also don’t have an oxygen cylinder but we are trying to borrow one from Kitagata Referral hospital such that we start saving the lives of our people.”
Tumusiime also decried the poor transport system at the health centre, saying; “My friend, it’s not true that we charge transport costs on people we transfer to other hospitals. The truth is that we don’t have an ambulance. Therefore, if we advise you to go to another hospital, you look for your own vehicle to transport you because the one we had developed mechanical problems long ago. The health centre has one small vehicle which we use during immunization drives. Still, we don’t have enough medicine; that’s why we advise patients to buy some because we serve so many people.” Sheema municipality Town clerk Justine Barekye told us that they have already requested the ministry of health for Shs1.5Billion to construct there toilets. She added that the toilets at the health centre were built in 1948.
