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Residents say the facility will reduce maternal deaths
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By Our Reporter
Bushenyi
For years, 63-year-old Kyogabirwe Angelika, a diabetic resident of Kanyegyero Village in Nkanga Sub-county, Bushenyi District, has walked more than 18 kilometers to Kiyagara Health Centre III in neighboring Nyabubare Sub-county to access medical care. Like many others in this newly created sub-county, Kyogabirwe has endured the hardship of walking long distances—often on poor roads—to seek treatment. The lack of a nearby community health facility has been a major challenge, especially for the elderly, pregnant women, and children.
That burden is now easing, thanks to the construction of Nkanga Community Health Centre III, the first health facility in the sub-county. Built at a cost of Shs 200 million through the efforts of Boniface Tugume, the facility marks a significant milestone in improving healthcare access for the local population.
Speaking at the handover of the facility, Boniface Tugume pledged to construct staff houses for health workers to ensure they can be accommodated on-site and serve the community on a full-time basis.
“We have taken the first step by building the community facility. The next phase is to construct staff housing so that health workers can stay here and attend to patients daily,” Tugume said. “This is our commitment to improving the lives of our people.”
The community health centre is well-equipped with essential medicines, hospital beds, examination equipment, and other basic medical supplies needed to support both outpatient and inpatient care. However, it is not yet fully operational due to the absence of permanent medical staff and accommodation facilities.
Saverio Mpambiro, the LC3 Chairperson of Nkanga Sub-county, said the facility is currently functioning only as an outreach post, with health workers visiting once a week to treat patients.
“This is still a big challenge. We don’t have health workers stationed here full-time because the facility has not yet been officially taken over by the district, and there are no staff houses to accommodate them,” Mpambiro explained.
He appealed to Bushenyi District authorities to urgently deploy health personnel and provide the necessary infrastructure to enable the community facility to operate at full capacity.
Despite the current limitations, residents remain hopeful that the district will intervene soon, allowing the facility to provide consistent and reliable healthcare services to the people of Nkanga and surrounding areas.
Dr. Eliab Nuwamanya, the Acting District Health Officer, revealed that Nkanga is not the only area without a government health facility—Kizinda-Kigoma Town Council also lacks one.
“We did the planning to have those facilities in place, but as you know, our mandate ends at planning. It’s better if you ask the Chief Administrative Officer or the LC5 Chairperson what has happened,” Dr. Nuwamanya said.
He further acknowledged that the Nkanga community health facility has struggled with a shortage of medical personnel, largely because it has not yet been officially taken over by the Ministry of Health.
“We have faced challenges with staffing since the facility has not been absorbed into the government system,” he said. “However, as the district health department, we are hopeful that the Ministry of Health will soon take it over.”
He underscored the importance of establishing and operationalizing the facility, saying it would significantly reduce maternal deaths and other health complications caused by delayed access to treatment.
“Many people, especially pregnant women and children, have been suffering due to the long distances to the nearest health facilities. This community facility will go a long way in improving health outcomes once it is fully functional,” he added.
Created in 2020 as part of the government’s decentralization policy, Nkanga Sub-county was carved out of Nyabubare Sub-county to bring services closer to the people.
Torch Media Africa
