KAMPALA- The Director of Hoima Regional Referral Hospital, Dr. Ibrahim Bwaga has informed Parliament that within a year, 57 women died during labour with 45 of these women dying within 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital due to the long distances they walk to access maternal services.
He made the revelation while appearing before Parliament’s Health Committee where he had appeared to present Hoima Hospital’s proposals for the 2025/26 Budget Framework Paper, where he was discussing the 2023/24 physical performance of the Hospital.
He reveled that some communities rejected advice to transport patients to Kampala for Intensive Care Services, informing the hospital of their readiness to bury their loved ones, instead of transporting them to Kampala to ICU care.
He also welcomed Government’s move of establishing an Intensive Care Unit at Hoima Hospital saying this will go a long way in saving lives and reducing the emotional toll the medical workers endure, trying to counsel and convince residents to transport their patients for such services in Mulago Hospital.
Bwaga stressed that many caretakers prefer giving up on these patients than have them transported to Kampala.
The ED explained that statistics from the Bunyoro region in the recent past, many of the patients are referred, and those patients that need ICU care where Hoima Hospital’s skill isn’t able to sustain life.
According to Dr. Bwaga, there is a need to construct a maternal and child ward to contain the congestion that has seen 3-5 babies share a single bed.
