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Soroti, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Soroti District Council has allocated 19 acres of land for the construction and expansion of the new Soroti Regional Referral Hospital. The hospital will be constructed near Soroti University of Science and Technology in Arapai Sub County.
Soroti Hospital is one of the 13 public Regional Referral Hospitals in the country. The 274-bed facility now serves ten districts with a population of two million people across the Teso Sub Region. It was started as a syphilis treatment centre in the mid-1920s, became a district hospital in 1978 and elevated to Regional Referral Hospital in 1996.
Currently, the hospital operates in old structures condemned for habitation. The recent construction of new structures, however, doesn’t allow the desired development for Soroti to suit regional referral status, yet it did not have enough space for expansion in its current location along Lira Road.
With the establishment of Soroti University of Science and Technology, players in the education and health sectors raised concern for the expansion of the hospital to accommodate learning for medical students. Luke Lokuda, the Chief Administrative Officer of Soroti says that plans for the construction of the new hospital were communicated by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health through a letter to the City Clerk of Soroti on January 8.
He adds that another letter, issued by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, on February 15, tasked the authorities in Soroti to identify land for the construction of the hospital and the regional blood bank. According to Lokuda, they have been collaborating with Soroti City authorities and the lower local governments that later agreed to have the facilities put in Arapai.
Lokuda said that the funds for the construction of the hospital are already in the current financial year budget of the Ministry of health. He adds that the ministry was waiting for the identification and submission of details about the availability of land. Whereas some of the councillors expressed reservations over the procedures used to identify the land, the majority welcomed the development.
However, Bob Owiny, the Deputy Speaker of Soroti District Council noted that whereas it is a good move by the government to construct and equip the regional referral hospital, there is a need to improve service delivery in lower health facilities in order to reduce the load in regional referral facilities.
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