Construction of an 800-bed capacity hospital in Masaka District has kicked off putting residents of the area in an enviable position nationally as the closest beneficiaries of the biggest hospital that specializes in women and children healthcare.
The contract for the construction of the hospital, according to the hospital’s administrator, Florence Gumisiriza, the hospital is overwhelmed by an influx of 3,000 outpatients a day.
According to the Gumisiriza, the new hospital will serve 400 mothers and 300 children on a daily basis, up from the current 100 mothers and 100 children respectively. The health facility will also be fitted with 800 beds.
Gumisiriza welcomed the commencement of the construction process saying it would go a long way in alleviating the suffering of hundreds of women from the region.
Gumisiriza added that it’s commonplace to see women deliver on verandahs and sleeping on floors due to lack of beds. Currently, hundreds of admitted mothers and children have got just 70 beds to share.
According to the Masaka Referral Hospital procurement officer Dismus Wandera, the contract was subject to open domestic bidding which saw Tirupati emerge the best bidder with the lowest financial figure of Ushs 10.6b, edging out 10 other competitors.
Speaking during the handover ceremony of the site to the contractor recently, the joint managing director of Tirupati Development Miraj Barot said that construction will start next month and the hospital complex will be ready by 2016.
Miraj also said that 80 per cent of the workers will be sourced from Masaka to work on the project.
According to Aita Joel, Chief Executive Officer of Joadah Consult, the project consulting engineers, the modern five-storey hospital complex will use the latest technology such as Tele-medicine. Formally defined, telemedicine is the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve a patient’s clinical health status.
The health facility will also comprise a gym and internet connections as well as TVs for patients to watch.
The new Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Masaka District Linos Ngompek pledged maximum security to the contractors, noting that of late road contractors along the Masaka-Mbarara highway have suffered theft of equipment and other items like fuel.
Masaka hospital was established in 1927 to treat syphilis, and it was upgraded to a regional referral hospital in 1995.
