National Water and Sewage Corporation has cut supply to Hoima Regional Referral Hospital after the management failed to pay an outstanding accumulated bill of 150 million shillings.

The bill has grown over the last five years. The Hospital has now been forced to resort to using rainwater collected and stored in tanks from the roofs.

This comes a few days after National Water and Sewerage Corporation wrote to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, announcing that the Regional Referral Hospitals of Naguru, Hoima, and Entebbe would have their water lines disconnected for failure to clear accumulated arrears from July 2022 to March 2023.

Paul Ajuk, the Senior Hospital Administrator of Hoima Regional Referral Hospital said that the Ministry of Health has written to the hospital management, directing them to include the accumulated unpaid water bill in their budget for the 2023/2024 financial year.

Ajuk explained that the bill has been accumulating because says the Hospital has been receiving 35 million shillings every quarter to pay water bills but the money is inadequate. He appealed to the finance ministry to increase the allocation to at least 50 million shillings.

Ajuk added that the number of patients the hospital serves has increased significantly and therefore the water usage has also gone up.

Donanto Kasigazi, the Deputy Resident City Commissioner for Hoima East Division called on the Ministries of Health and Finance to work jointly to address the water crisis because it is affecting service delivery at the regional referral hospital.

In the meantime, Kasigazi pledged that the Resident City Commissioner’s office and other district leaders will engage different stakeholders to have the matter resolved.

Safian Kiiza, a parent to a child with a disability normally collects water from the hospital for domestic use. She says the water crisis has hit all of them and it is worse for the patients and caretakers. The medical workers cannot attend to some patients when the procedure needs water.

Other residents captured the plight of patients and their caretakers who they said are buying water from vendors expensively, with one 20-liter jerrycan sold at 1000 shillings.

Hoima Regional Referral Hospital serves 11 districts, mainly in the Bunyoro sub-region, including Hoima, Kikuube, Buliisa, Masindi, Kibaale, Kagadi, Kiryandongo, Kyankwanzi, Kiboga, and Hoima City. Some patients also come from the Democratic Republic of Congo across Lake Albert in Buliisa District.

Ambrose