The crisis at Soroti regional referral hospital has deepened following the breakdown of its main theatre, forcing patients requiring surgery to be transferred to lower health facilities for treatment.
Patients in need of major operations are currently being transported to Princess Diana health centre IV along the Soroti–Moroto road, where emergency surgeries are being conducted.
The hospital’s main theatre, which has reportedly been operational for more than 70 years, is currently in a dilapidated condition and non-functional due to a major power fault.
Before the breakdown, the theatre handled major surgeries daily for patients drawn from both the Teso and Karamoja sub-regions. Every day, ambulances and pickup trucks line up at the hospital to ferry patients requiring surgery to either Princess Diana health centre IV or Atirir health centre IV.
After the operations, patients are transported back to Soroti regional referral hospital for post-operative care and recovery. The arrangement has created significant logistical and medical challenges for hospital administrators, patients and caregivers.
Some mothers who undergo caesarean section operations are reportedly forced to walk from where ambulances drop them to the wards where they are admitted for recovery.
Patients and attendants have since appealed to the ministry of Health to urgently intervene and address the crisis, which has persisted for more than a month.
“I arrived here this afternoon, and they told me I need further management here,” said 25-year-old Rose Auma, less than 24 hours after undergoing a caesarean section at Princess Diana health centre IV.
With the theatre at Soroti regional referral hospital closed, mothers are first operated on at Princess Diana health centre IV before being returned to Soroti for further care.
“It hurts to walk, but I had no choice,” Auma said.
For attendants, the process has also become expensive and exhausting.
“When we reached the hospital, the ambulance had already taken other mothers to Diana,” said Hellen Alobo, an attendant.
“So we had to hire a boda boda to get there for the operation. After that, they brought us back in the ambulance for further management,” she added.
Alice Akwi, another attendant, described the situation as overwhelming and painful for patients.
“We have seen a lot in this facility. The number of patients being taken for surgery is overwhelming. One has to wait, and the return journey is very hectic,” Akwi said.
“The road has many humps, and imagine the pain of a patient who has just undergone an operation being driven over that road, often at high speed because drivers are rushing to ferry more patients,” she added.
Akwi appealed to the ministry of Health to urgently intervene and ease the suffering of patients. According to Soroti City health officer Dr Alfred Anyonga, at least 46 mothers have successfully undergone caesarean section operations since Sunday before being transferred back to Soroti regional referral hospital for post-operative care.
Dr Anyonga explained that Princess Diana health centre IV has only 15 maternity beds, which are mainly reserved for mothers with complications or wounds that are not healing properly.
“Because of that, we do not have enough space to keep post-operative mothers for long. After surgery, we stabilize them and return them to Soroti regional referral hospital,” he said.
Sister Mary Margaret Ajiko, a consultant surgeon at Soroti regional referral hospital, said the hospital has been covering fuel costs for ambulances transporting patients, health workers and surgical equipment between the two facilities.
“We have to fuel the ambulances to carry nurses, doctors, patients and even surgical equipment to Diana,” she said.
“It is the only way to keep operations running while our main theatre is down,” Ajiko added.
She explained that the theatre’s power fault is linked to the age of the structure, noting that the facility was built in the 1940s and still relies on an outdated wiring system that requires complete replacement.
Ajiko further revealed that the hospital is grappling with inadequate space despite receiving donated medical equipment.
“Our dental unit is cramped, and our accident and emergency ward is just one small area. This hospital is meant to serve the entire region,” she said.
“Beyond repairs, we are urging government to construct a modern theatre so we can manage patients effectively and stop these interruptions,” Ajiko added.
Under Uganda’s referral system, patients are ordinarily transferred from lower health facilities such as health centre IIs, IIIs and IVs to regional referral hospitals for specialised treatment.
However, Soroti regional referral hospital is now referring patients to lower facilities because of critical infrastructure failures.
The hospital serves more than two million people across ten districts in the Teso sub-region but continues to struggle with overstretched, ageing and in some cases non-functional infrastructure, leaving both patients and health workers anxiously waiting for a lasting solution.
