Health minister queries slow construction of maternity ward

Lira, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Minister of Health has raised concern about the delays to complete the maternity ward at Ober health centre III.

In 2021, the Ministry of Health released 300 Million Shillings for the construction of the maternity ward and theater at Ober health centre III. The contract was awarded to BP Enterprises and Construction Company Limited, but works have stalled for a year at the foundation level.

During an impromptu visit to the site on Thursday, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, the Minister of Health, and also the Woman MP Lira City could not hide her disappointment over the slow progress of works. Aceng explained that the city had been given all the resources needed to execute the work.

Patrick Ogweng, the Deputy City Clerk attributed the delays to the lack of architectural designs from the ministry’s engineering department. He however says that works will soon commence after the designs were released.

Hilary Okello, the facility’s in charge instead attributed the delay to a lack of Bill of Quantities-(BOQ).

“The issue of BoQ is what is delaying the project. The design came and the engineer was supposed to sit and come up with a BoQ,” he said.

But the minister who sensed foul play and lack of commitment tasked the town clerk to ensure that the work starts as soon as possible to avoid losing the money.

The Ministry of Health committed to upgrading Ober health centre III to IV in 2021 due to the big number of patients it receives.

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