Water, electricity crisis hits Mbarara Municipal HC IV

Amos Tayebwa

Mbarara

Mbarara Municipal Health Center IV needs prayers due to the water and electricity crisis. This comes after the City Council failed to pay these utilities’ bills.

According to the information at hand, the City Council failed to pay Water bills of UGX 2,697,714 to National Water and Sewerage Corporation that prompted a cut off. This crisis has not only affected the Health Center but also Mbarara City Council Administration premises (White House) have been under operation without water for about a week.

Apparently, the Health Center facility is running without water and this has taken now for about two weeks according to the sources. In the same way, the facility is also operating without electricity. It is alleged that the City authority is accountable for this fault on grounds that they failed to pay for UMEME Yaka. This crisis has mostly polarized the services in the labour ward where it is alleged that midwives. Sources allege that the medics use torches to work on those women who are in Labour during night.

According to the sources, women and other patients or patients’ caretakers carry water from outside the facility for use, something that has crippled services in this Health Center. The sanitation in this facility is also worrying the community.

It is said that these issues have been reported to the relevant offices at the Mbarara City Council but the officials’ in-charge have remained adamant about the matter.

Mayor Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi while speaking to this website confessed that there is a water and electricity crisis at Mbarara HC4. He however said that he was not aware about that challenge until two days ago. He noted that the major challenge the City has faced is concerning the system whereby the money from the ministry does not come in time to pay for water and electricity bills.

“We are now in touch with the ministry and the internet people in ensuring that the system is worked on immediately so that we can be able handle this problem as early as possible. We know this issue is an emergency but we are very sorry and we are not seated, we are going to handle it as an emergency. I am also going to call the NWSC people although we owe them their money to make sure they put water systems back then when the system issue is sorted we shall pay them,” said Kakyebezi, Mayor Mbarara City.

Amina Naluyima, the Mbarara City Senior Communications Officer also revealed that as the City they have encountered the challenge of water and electricity crisis at Mbarara City HC4. Naluyima admits that the systems of payments from the ministry were down so that’s why they have ended up into such situations.

Mbarara Municipal Health Center IV is one of the sensitive health facilities that serve the whole City and other neighboring Districts. It assists Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital. But has failed to have its own mortuary according to the population it receives.

Recently, the Executive Director of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, Celestine Barigye wrote to the Town Clerk Assy Abirebe advising him that the City must plan and have its own mortuary at Mbarara Municipal HC IV to reduce the Congestion of dead bodies at the Referral Hospital.

However, this has never been done and the City Authority gives the excuse that there are financial constraints that cannot allow the construction of a mortuary at the Health Center.

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