Lira, Uganda | The Minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Sam Engola, has called for the urgent rehabilitation and upgrading of Amach Health Centre IV in Lira District to improve healthcare services and respond to the growing number of patients seeking treatment at the facility.
Engola, who is also the Erute South County MP, made the call on Saturday, August 29, after assessing healthcare delivery at the facility during the National Cleaning Day exercise. He aid the health centre, which serves a large population in the area, requires structural improvements, modern medical equipment, and adequate supplies, with priority given to the maternity ward and operating theatre.
Engola said the government has a responsibility to ensure that citizens can access quality and affordable healthcare while commending health workers at Amach for continuing to serve patients despite resource constraints.
The minister also joined more than 200 residents in cleaning the health facility and the nearby trading centre, where participants swept public spaces and desilted drainage channels. He urged residents to make cleanliness a daily responsibility rather than waiting for the monthly national exercise.
The acting in-charge of Amach Health Centre IV, Dr. Pius Omach said the facility has gained the confidence of residents because of the services it provides, including maternity, outpatient, and theatre services.
Dr. Omach said the district had recently deployed three additional staff and provided a waste-holding facility, while one midwife is undergoing training in radiology and is expected to begin supporting the planned radiology department within two months.
However, he said the facility continues to face critical challenges, including inadequate staffing, limited accommodation, insufficient computers for electronic medical records and digitalized healthcare systems, and poor infrastructure.
According to Dr. Omach, only 25 of the facility’s 50 staff members are accommodated at the health centre. He said the operating theatre also functions without grid electricity, relying on solar power, which he described as inadequate and unreliable for a facility handling about 48 theatre cases monthly, mostly involving pregnant mothers. He added that the outpatient department and laboratory have limited space, while the ambulance lacks adequate facilities, and the health centre has no neonatal unit, among other challenges.
Lira District Resident District Commissioner Lillian Eyal said the National Cleaning Day should be treated as a responsibility of every citizen, beginning with individual homes and communities. She further raised concerns about staffing and service delivery in government health facilities, saying her office had observed cases where large numbers of patients are being attended to by only a few health workers.
Eyal said the district leadership is considering medical retirement for some staff who were no longer able to effectively perform their duties, arguing that government resources should not be spent on personnel who are unable to work. She added that the district would soon introduce an audit to establish how medicines are being utilised at health facilities, in a move aimed at strengthening accountability and ensuring that drugs reach the intended beneficiaries.
National Cleaning Day is observed on the last Saturday of every month from 7am to 10 am, after Cabinet approval on August 11, 2025, with the first nationwide exercise held on July 25, 2026. It, during which normal traffic movement and non-essential business activities are paused to allow public participation. The programme was intended to improve sanitation, reduce preventable diseases linked to poor hygiene, address solid waste and drainage challenges, and promote civic responsibility among Ugandans.