KAMPALA, UGANDA – Uganda’s public health system presents a tale of contrasting fortunes, marked by remarkable progress in maternal care alongside alarming surges in diabetes and mental health cases at national referral hospitals.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The developments were highlighted during the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) engagement with several National Referral Hospital Executive Directors this week.
Among the concerning developments, Butabika National Mental Health Hospital and Kiruddu National Referral Hospital are currently grappling with skyrocketing patient numbers that far exceed bed capacity.
Dr. Juliet Nakku, Executive Director of Butabika National Referral Hospital, confirmed a staggering 71 per cent rise in mental health cases across the country over the past four years.
She revealed a 70 per cent surge in countrywide mental health cases since 2021-22, with children and adolescents now representing a quarter of those affected.
Dr. Nakku added that this surge has crippled hospital capacity, forcing facilities to operate at more than double their official bed limit and creating a critical staffing crisis where nurse-to-patient ratios soar as high as one to sixty.
“The nurse-patient ratio right now is huge. We should have at least one nurse to every 10 to 15 patients at the max. But we have one to 50, one to 60, which is very high. Mental health is very intensive,” Dr. Nakku explained.
The Executive Director of Kiruddu National Referral Hospital, Dr. Charles Kabugo, confirmed that diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions in Uganda, with the facility diagnosing up to 15 new cases every Wednesday.
He revealed that the alarming numbers are adding to an already overwhelming volume of diabetic patients.
He also urged Parliament to plan for a specialised burns hospital ahead of Uganda’s first oil in 2026, warning that Kiruddu would be overwhelmed by potential fire disasters.
Meanwhile, Kawempe National Referral Hospital’s Executive Director, Dr. Emmanuel Byaruhanga, confirmed that the facility has emerged as a beacon of hope, recording a dramatic reduction in maternal deaths over the past three years.
He stated that annual maternal deaths at the hospital have dropped dramatically from over 200 to around 60, despite managing roughly 20,000 deliveries each year.
However, the facility remains under intense pressure, with nearly half of approximately 60 daily births requiring C-sections—a rate far exceeding the WHO’s recommended 15 per cent.
The facility’s achievement was, however, overshadowed by alarming testimonies from the directors of Kiruddu and Butabika hospitals, who detailed the silent, growing burdens of non-communicable diseases and mental illness.
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