Despite the government’s effort to make health services easily accessible to all Ugandans, Uganda still has a long way to go with 26 of the districts in the country lacking at least a hospital in them, according the a report of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative which focused on the right to Health Care in Uganda.

Mulago Hospital building

Some of the districts that lack at least a hospital include Kaberamaido, Amuria, Kalangala, Isingiro Mayuge, Pader, Kyenjojo, Pader, Ssembabule, Kotido, Koboko and Bullisa among others.

The report notes that the despite the claim by the government that they aim at bringing services closer to the people in the creation of new districts, that is not the case with health care services are still largely hard to access for the people in up country districts.

The report says that the health centers that would have been an alternative to the hospitals are also situated far away from the people for example, in several districts like Katakwi and Amuria patients have to trek 12kms to get treatment for from a health care facility/

The report has also decried the government’s failure to create a balance in the physical accessibility to healthcare facilities amongst all areas in Uganda. The report says the government has failed to curtail the great disparity in access to health care facilities in Uganda with some areas able to access better healthcare services than others yet the access should be uniform.

Though the National Demographic and Household survey puts the average radius to health care facility in Uganda at 4km, the FHRI report says that is a figure that paints an overly optimistic picture that is not clearly in line with what is on the ground.

By Tiberindwa Zakaria