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Masaka, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Buganda Kingdom has commissioned the construction of a private Health Centre in Buddu County to improve health services.
The construction is being undertaken next to the former headquarters of Mukungwe sub-county in Masaka city, where the Kingdom will operate the facility at the level of a Health Centre IV.
While launching the project on Thursday, the Buganda Minister in Charge of Local Government Joseph Kawuki says the health facility is part of the broader Kingdom’s strategic interventions toward ensuring a healthy population, which is capable of contributing to community development.
The facility, named Muteesa II Memorial Health Centre IV, is according to Kawuki one of the three similar projects the Kingdom is undertaking, aimed at bringing improved and affordable health services closer to the local communities. The other ongoing projects are in Singo and Kyaggwe counties, in Mityana municipality and Buikwe districts respectively.
Kawuki has however expressed disappointment with bureaucratic tendencies in some technical offices within Masaka City Council, blaming them for slowing down the project when they delayed approving of the structural plans to allow the contractor to commence the works.
He cautioned the City leadership against unnecessary bureaucracies, which he says, frustrate investments and the area’s development opportunities.
Josephine Nantege, the Principal Secretary in the Office of the Buganda Prime Minister indicates they earmarked to spend 1.5 billion Shillings in the first phase of each of the three projects.
She indicates that besides the health facilities, the Kingdom has also planned to put in place commercial buildings that will serve as complementary projects to the health centers, whose services she says will be highly subsidized. Nantege says they expect the Health Centers to begin operation next year.
Michael Mulindwa Nakumusana, the Chairperson for Nyendo-Mukungwe Division says the project is a grand opportunity for their area, whose population is steadily increasing due to urbanization.
He says that city leadership regrets the delays in the execution of the project, however indicating that they are engaging as the relevant stakeholders to avoid similar frustrations in the future.
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