Adjumani General Hospital is grappling with the shortage of beds following a surge in the number of patients being admitted at the facility. Apparently, some of the patients are now lying on the floor in the wards.
Statistics from the hospital indicate that the health facility that was built with the capacity of 100 beds in the different wards currently has more than 300 patients. The hospital also receives about 400 patients in the Out-patient Department daily.
Gloria Ondora, a mother admitted to the Maternity Ward in Adjumani Hospital revealed that the patients sleeping on the floor due to inadequate beds contract infections because the floor is not cleaned regularly.
Kadija Citima, another patient says that in addition to the shortage of beds, the patients are often sent to buy medicine from private clinics or pharmacies, something she says comes with additional expenses.
Michael Ojja, the Administrator Adjumani General Hospital told URN in an interview that the maternity ward is the most affected. He disclosed that the ward has only 25 beds but admissions have tripled.
According to Ojja, they used to have an average of 165 deliveries in the past but since March 2020 to date, they register between 350 and 400 deliveries monthly, meaning admissions equally went up.
He says the hospital has been registering a number of perinatal and maternal deaths due to the complications caused by the patients sleeping on the floor.
Ojja appealed to the government to increase funding to the hospital to be able to handle the overwhelming number of patients seeking health services. Ben Anyama, the Adjumani District LC V Chairperson attributed the overwhelming number of patients flocking the hospital to the influx of refugees in the district.
According to Anyama, there are over 11,000 refugees in Adjumani district who entered illegally from the porous borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo –DRC and South Sudan. On February 24, 2022, Jesuit Refugee Service –JRS Uganda, a Non-Governmental Organization donated 40 beds and mattresses to the maternity ward of Adjumani General Hospital and 10 Intensive Care Unit –ICU beds together with their oxygen cylinders and regulators at the COVID -19 Treatment Unit.
The Organization also handed over an incinerator it built for the health facility for solid waste management. Gemechu Yadeta, the JRS Uganda Project Director, said that the support follows the concerns raised by the district leaders over the challenges faced by the hospital as it struggles to deliver services to both the refugees and the host communities.
He also added that the support to Adjumani General Hospital and other health facilities in the district is boosting the government’s effort in offering quality health care services to the refugees.
