Kisoro Isolation, theatre to open by December

By Gerald Niyirinda

Both the isolation and theatre under construction at Kisoro District General Hospital will be under use by the end of this year, the MS has said.

The hospital currently receives an average of 2,000 patients on monthly basis, Dr Emmanuel Bahane, the Medical Superintendent says

He is optimistic that by December, the isolation unit will be complete and it could be put to use.

“The construction of the state-of-the-art isolation is going on and the works are at 85%, now we are very sure that by December 31, we shall be admitting patients, because that’s when they will hand over the project to the hospital,” he said.

According to Bahane, the unit will mainly admit patients with infectious diseases such as Marburg, TB, Ebola, Mpox, Covid and others.

“The theatre is also at 80% and we hope to start using it at the same time. Our theatre was not doing very well, but we hope that by December we shall be using the new theatre,” Bahane explained.

The ministry of health launched the construction of the isolation and theatre projects in April this year, with Busanza Health Centre IV also receiving an operating theatre.

Geses Uganda Ltd contracted the isolation unit at Kisoro hospital, while Denka Company Limited contracted the two theatres at Kisoro Hospital and Busanza Health Centre IV.

The projects are funded by World Bank through the Uganda Covid-19 Response and Emergency Preparedness Project (UCREPP), in the Ministry of Health.

The isolation unit at Kisoro hospital is worth approximately 4.1 billion Shillings, while the two theatres are worth 1.8 billion Shillings.

Dr Bahane however regrets that the number of patients has greatly improved, with a sharp rise in demand for more health workers.

“The numbers have increased. There is increased demand for the services. But with these structures, we shall try to see that all our patients are accommodated in the hospital. You know the structures we have are for those years, but the population has increased, thus the need for more infrastructure and staffing,” Bahane explains.