Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital grappling with high casualty rates

The Acting Director of the Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital, Dr Oscar Kaliisa, has raised concerns about the high rate of outpatients seeking medical attention which affects service delivery due to their limited resources.

Dr Kaliisa was speaking over the weekend while receiving a donation of five wheelchairs and a 10,000-litre water tank from Stanbic Bank Uganda.

The bank also donated two 10,000-litre tanks and other scholastic items to Rusekere Secondary School. In total, both donations amounted to about UGX25m.

“Almost 40% of the people attending the Out Patients Department (OPD) are casualties from motor accidents. Most people use boda-bodas because it is the easiest means of transport, but they are also causing more harm than good,” he said.

Dr Kaliisa said with the rapid population growth in the region, the hospital is constrained and is not able to offer all the basic services. As a preventive measure, he asked the public to be more health conscious and cautious in the day-to-day activities.

“Our OPD is very full. Even the number of patients attending the diabetic hypertensive clinic is alarming. We want to encourage you to do more exercise and do healthier eating such that you avoid illnesses,” Dr Kaliisa said.

While handing over the donation as part of the Stanbic Bank L.O.V.E. Month, Peace Nyangoma, the Manager of Customer Experience, commended staff at the hospital for their services in spite of the challenging circumstances.

Fort Portal Regional Referral hospital was ranked 10^th in good performance in the recently released report by the Ministry of Health, covering the 2023/2024 financial year.

“Our role in supporting you as a district is to ensure that we are honouring your contribution to our goal. As an organisation, we are driven by our goal of driving Uganda’s growth and this requires us to be present all over the country and supporting the communities in which we serve.  We demonstrate our care through partnerships and collaborations such as this, and we do this through the different initiatives, that we partake in,” she said.

Nyangoma added, “When people hear about Stanbic Bank, they think it is just about profits. Yes, we are about profits; but more than anything, we are about the people as well. We are about the communities we serve in, we are about extending that love in a special way, in our banking halls and beyond and ensuring that we are contributing positively even at a household, regional, and country level.”

Albert Aheebwa, the Speaker of Fort Portal City said, “This donation is timely considering the many challenges the hospital faces while serving referrals from the entire region. At some point, workers get overwhelmed because they lack several basic necessities.”