Electricity bills take lion share of Luweero hospital PHC budget

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Electricity bills and purchase of medical equipment have taken the biggest portion of the budget for the newly elevated Luweero Hospital.

According to the 334,382,000 shillings primary health care budget approved by the Hospital Management Committee, the electricity bill, stands out as the biggest single utility that will cost 49 million shillings in the financial year 2019/20. The hospital will also, spend over 90 million Shillings on procurement of medical and other minor equipment.

Some of the equipment to be bought include an ultrasound machine at 15 million shillings, a dental chair at 16.2 million shillings, patients bed at 18 million shillings and replacement of theater doors at 12 million shillings. Part of the budget will be used to partition wards, at a cost of 10 million shillings.

The facility will spend 12 million shillings on allowances for the supervision of health services and at 4.4 million shillings on allowances for staff to conduct immunization.

Luweero district health officer doctor Innocent Nkonwa says that the electricity bill has accumulated over the years and that the facility intends to offset part of it during the next financial year. Up to 25 million Shillings will be cleared, as an outstanding balance and two million shillings reserved to clear the monthly bills throughout the year. Electricity is needed to sterilize equipment and offer light at the hospital among other uses.

Herbert Ssekabira, a member of the Luweero hospital management says that they prioritized clearance of outstanding bills at the hospital to ensure that service delivery is not affected through power disconnections. He, however, noted there was a need to look at ways of bringing down the power tariffs by considering solar as an alternative source.

Luweero Health Center IV which was recently elevated to hospital status has faced several power disconnections over failure to clear outstanding balances in the past. Last year, UMEME disconnected supply to the health centre over accumulated power bills to the tune of 36 million Shillings.

Now residents and area leaders believe that the problem will be no more since the elevation comes with a budget increment which can enable the facility clear outstanding bills and other operational costs.

Luweero hospital was operationalized on September 5, 2019, after Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Health doctor Atwine announced its upgrade. Atwine has also directed the CAO to recruit 185 health workers as per staffing norms to enable quality health service delivery.

The facility attracts over 250 patients per day and handles 300 deliveries per month. The patients are drawn from Luweero, Nakaseke, Nakasongola districts and passengers plying the Kampala-Gulu highway.

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