Kilembe Hospital re-opens

By John Thawite

KILEMBE Mines Hospital in Kasese district re-opens its gates to out-patients today, after a month’s closure.

The facility was closed after it was ravaged by floods that hit the area on May 1.

“The out-patient department is ready to resume services. Most parts of the hospital have been de-silted,” the hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr. Edward Wefula, said yesterday.

He disclosed that the hospital would start by offering services such as anti-retroviral therapy, eye treatment, dental care, orthopaedics and immunisation. 

Wefula said the 200-bed hospital was not yet ready for in-patient admissions and major surgical operations because most of the essential equipment, including the theatre, was destroyed. 

“For the hospital to return to its former glory, we need about sh3b,” he said.

Wefula said housing for staff alone would require about sh2.5b to rebuild, adding that 84 nurses are homeless after their houses were washed away by the floods.

He requested for cement, timber and paint to be used in repairing the hospital’s infrastructure. 

Wefula said the break down in the facility’s sewerage system had resulted in the contamination of water.

He said as a result of the breakdown, they cannot admit patients.

“We are depending on the untreated water from the Kasese Cobalt Company factory. We have to purify it before using and it is not enough for a big patient population,” Wefula added.

The hospital is co-managed by Kilembe Mines, the Catholic Church and the health ministry.

According to Wefula, the hospital is a referral for patients from western Uganda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.