Rugunda, MPs for night duty operation at Mulago

Oct 04, 2013

The Ministry of Health top officials led by the minister of Health Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda and medical Members of Parliament will on Monday lead a team to Mulago national referral hospital to work alongside midwives to deliver women in labor.

By Henry Sekanjako

The Ministry of Health top officials led by the minister of Health Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda and medical Members of Parliament will on Monday lead a team to Mulago national referral hospital to work alongside midwives to deliver women in labor.


Rugunda, his ministry staff and MPs with medical training will also manage the emergency ward; carry out laboratory services for HIV/AIDS, maternal Health, child care, malaria, TB, blood safety among other medical services.

The chairperson Network of African women ministers and parliamentarians (NAWMP) Sylvia Namabidde said the campaign dubbed  "National ward round tour of identified public hospitals" is intended to have a feel of working conditions of the health workers in the country.

“We shall be led by the minister of health for a night duty operation.  We want to help out on the health workers , get to know what they go through as they provide health services to patients in the facilities,” said Namabidde.

During the operation, the minister, MPs and health officials will put special focus on services aimed at improving maternal, new born and child health.

“'The special emphasis on maternal health is based on the fact that our maternal mortality rate is still high at 435 per 100,000 live births. This is not acceptable as it puts our country far behind on achieving the MDG 4 AND 5 by 2015,” Namabidde noted.

The minister and his team will join health workers to collect samples and test them in the laboratories, clerk patients that come to the wards and direct them on the necessary staff to attend to them.

The team will also work with pharmacists and drug dispensers to dispense drugs, work with nurses to attend to patients, administer vaccines to children and women as well as sensitizing the public about the need to deliver at the hands of skilled health workers.

Namabidde who was flanked by both female and male MPs and officials from the ministry of health said parliament and the ministry of health was committed to support health workers in service delivery as a way of promoting safe motherhood.

The operation which is part of the activities to mark the Independence Day on October 9, will run under the theme, 'minimizing the 3-delays that cause deaths occurring in pregnancy and child birth. No mother should die while giving birth on 7th October 2013, a 2013 independence milestone'.

 

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