By Michael Atwakiire
Sheema: The Medical Superintendent of Kitagata Hospital, in Sheema district, Dr Johnson Kabwiishwa, is worried about the lives of pregnant women and other patients who need surgical operations, because of the terrible state of the hospital’s theatre.
Dr Kabwiishwa said that; “The theatre operation table being used currently is out dated and can’t be used, since it was installed there around 1969 during former president Milton Obote’s regime, when the hospital was constructed and that currently it is too weak to support the lives of the pregnant mothers.”
He added that “Health workers at Kitagata hospital operate pregnant women on God’s mercy. The hospital doesn’t only lack a modern theatre but also other essential equipment like an Oxygen Plant, surgical blades and others, yet officials from the Ministry of Health have turned a deaf ear to the Hospital’s requests.”
He noted that “We are even tired of writing to the Ministry of Health asking for support because we have written to them several times without getting response. One time they told us that they were to honor our request but up to now, they have never given us anything.
The theatre operation table is currently worth around Shs20M; I hope if we get it, we can at least have hopes of saving many lives of pregnant mothers who undergo operation during child birth. Remember every month we operate over 230 mothers from greater Bushenyi district, Ntungamo and Rukungiri districts, so we are indeed badly off.”
We have since established that several well-wishers and Good Samaritans are currently running a fundraising drive to collect money to refurbish Kitagata Hospital theatre. So far, over 200 Sheema people have through their WhatsApp group pledged to contribute and the Hospital officials hope that by the end of next week they will have collected enough money to install at least a new operation table.
