Butabika receives relief amid growing mental illness cases
Birabwa says that mental health cases have shot up in the last 3 years and that Butabika has continued to support the other 13 regional hospitals.
Dr Harriet Birabwa and Sr Aliro Florence receiving relief items from the group of Grant Thornton Foundation led by the CSR Associate Sharon Babirye recently. (Photos by Aloysious Kasoma)
Aloysious Kasoma
Journalist @New Vision
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Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital authorities say they are overwhelmed by patients seeking medical care at the facility.
Dr Harriet Birabwa Oketcho, the head of Clinical Services at Butabika Hospital, says the facility operates at over 150% of bed capacity with over 1,000 patients.
“Our bed capacity is 550, the bed occupancy is very high for both male and female patients. Many of our patients do not have caregivers and you find the hospital providing a lot starting from the uniform,” she says.
Birabwa adds that mental health cases have shot up in the last 3 years and that Butabika has continued to support the other 13 regional hospitals.
“The Government has been able to sustain us. It doesn’t mean we don’t need resources, but we work within the budget. After the outbreak of COVID-19, many people experienced mental health issues and our numbers have increased in the last three years,” she says.
She also warned that there is an increase in alcohol abuse mainly among the youths (boys and girls).
She pointed out that the facility has intensified with different forms of treatment by providing drugs, counselling, education, therapy and community sensitisation.
Birabwa was speaking at the handing over of relief items worth millions donated by the Grant Thornton Foundation on March 1, 2025, at the hospital.
Grant Thornton Foundation corporate social responsibility (CSR) associate Sharon Babirye said this was the foundation’s Valentine's Day celebration with the Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital.
“Grant Thornton Foundation is focused on being in the community to associate with the people, this year we have reached out to Butabika hospital. The initiative begun in 2023 at Uganda Cancer Institute, 2024, we went to the elderly home in Nalukolongo and today we are here,” she said.
More women suffering
Recently, Butabika Hospital executive director Dr Juliet Nakku raised a red flag over the growing number of graduates battling mental health challenges, which she attributed to substance abuse and exessive alcohol abuse.
A 2024 joint study conducted by Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital and Makerere University says more Ugandan women are suffering from severe anxiety and depression than men. The study says men are majorly affected by alcohol abuse.
According to the hospital's management, this is indicative of the growing demand for mental healthcare services in Uganda.
The revelations come on the backdrop of recent health ministry findings that an estimated 14 million Ugandans are affected by mental health disorders.
According to Butabika Hospital, over 2,067 people were sampled from the districts of Kapchorwa, Adjumani, Bushenyi, and Butambala where participants were selected from both schools, those seeking health services in lower health facilities and the community.
The results say 39% of the women sampled suffered severe anxiety against 24% of the males. When it came to depression, 12.6% were women and 5% men.
The study was meant to assess the extent of integration of mental health services into primary health care, communities and schools in selected districts in the country.
According to Prof. Fredrick Makumbi, a lecturer at the Makerere University School of Public Health who was one of the researchers on the study, generally, for every three people, one had severe anxiety and when they went ahead to assess people’s attitudes about mental illness, several of the respondents believed that mental illness is behaviour-related.