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Prossy Birungi, 25, from Karambu village, Kacherere parish in Kabale district used to move tens of kilometres from the hills in search of medical services.

However, because of the distance, she would at times resort to self-medication, which is not advisable.

"I have to move for a long distance to get medical attention," she says.

Birungi, who is a mother of two, had on Wednesday moved 20km to come to Rubaya Health Centre IV, which is the only health facility in Rubaya sub-county. The faculty, therefore, serves a huge population living on the Uganda-Rwanda border.

At first, the facility was in a sorry state with dilapidated structures, broken beds and no mattresses for the patients.

Given the efforts of the Bank of Uganda (BOU), through its corporate social responsibility, the facility has been renovated, new structures built and donated medical equipment to improve health services.

"We have improved service of care bed capacity has increased and we admit more patients," Resty Gamushabe, a midwife at Rubaya HCIV, says.

"Sometimes, mothers would sleep on the floor, while others go home immediately after delivery," she adds. 

The beds, ultrasound machine and incubator, among others, have changed the face of Rubaya HCIV.

"We have no fear of admitting any patient in any condition. In fact, it's a fully packed hospital," Doreen Besiime, a midwife, says.

Besiime can now work on patients at any time without inconvenience.

Also, due to improved facilities Rwandans also come for the same services. 

"Everything is fine, the only challenge is the incubator they gave us, it consumes much power, yet we use solar. So, preterm babies we still refer them to Kabale Regional Referral Hospital," she adds.

Sarah Nyachwo, the co-ordinator of CSR activities for the BOU, says focusing on child and maternal health is one of the key areas to improve health.

She notes that giving back to the community and focusing on health facility improvement will change the well-being of people.

"When people are healthy it means they also economically doing well," she said during the visit to the health centre.

The BOU team is on a tour of supervising donations from 2019 to 2022 and checking how they are performing and changing people's lives.