NORTHERN UGANDA: Children with sickle cell disease and poor nutrition are having a hard time getting treatment at Lalogi Health Center IV in Omoro district.
Over 200,000 children from Omoro, Pader, Oyam, Lira, and parts of the Gulu district come to the facility every three months.
However, it doesn’t have enough room in its children’s admissions ward, where there are only ten beds. This means that a lot of people have to sleep on the floor.
Gloria Anena, a senior clinical officer and deputy administrator of Omoro Health Centre IV, says 30% of children that are quarterly brought to the facility for treatment are suffering from sickle cell disease, while 50% have some level of malnourishment.
Anena says a high percentage of the children are brought in critical conditions and require admissions and management from the health centre due to low body immunity. Yet the health centre lacks beds and space.
She explains that currently, the children’s ward is congested, exposing patients and their attendants to infections due to poor hygiene. This has forced doctors to send the children home for therapeutic health care management.
Administrators of the health center are now asking for help from well-wishers to build a large children’s ward or get a shipping container to make it easier for children to come in and get medical care.
Richard Alima, the Lalogi Sub County LCIII Chairperson, says the poor hygiene arising from congestion in the wards requires urgent interventions.
Douglas Peter Okello, the Omoro District Chairperson who admitted the challenges, says they are incapacitated to address them, noting that they are in talks with the government and Ministry of Health to upgrade Lalogi Health Centre IV to a district hospital in order to enhance service delivery.
Rotarian Jessica Nanfuka of Rubaga, who visited Lalogi Health Centre IV on Easter Sunday, says there is enormous need at the hospital.
Rotarian Pascal Osire, who is the director of MK Modern Organics and Natural Products operating in the Omoro district, says he will share the dire situation at the hospital with his colleagues and possibly design a project to extend help to them.
One of the mothers who spoke on condition of anonymity told URN that she endures the cold of the night with her sick child on the floors of the ward due to an inadequate bed.
On Easter Sunday, URN visited Lalogi Health Centre IV and saw hundreds of patients lying on the floor. Some of the children were sharing the adult wards.
Our reporter also observed that the health center has only nine beds in the children’s ward with more than 50 admissions. The health centre also has four grounded ambulances and damaged beds, among other equipment.
Lalogi Health Centre IV was established in the early 1980s in the Acholi district of Gulu.
It has a theater, an outpatient department (OPD), admissions, maternity, antenatal, ART, counseling, and guidance, among other things.