Published on 04/04/2025
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has asked Parliament for an annual budgetary appropriation of Shs35 billion intended to establish a general hospital in each of its five divisions.
KCCA officials led by the Minister for KCCA and Metropolitan Affairs, Hon. Kyofatogabye Kabuye, who appeared before the Committee on Health, argued that the move would decongest referral hospitals, by handling referrals from lower health facilities.
“Elevating the KCCA directly managed health facilities to city hospital status will enable the authority to increase the services level package, act as referral buffers from the lower-level health facilities and ultimately decongest the regional and national level hospitals within the confines of Kampala city,” said Dr. Sarah Zalwango, KCCA’s Ag. Director for Public Health.
The meeting was held on Thursday, 03 April 2025.
Dr. Zalwango noted that the authority currently runs two Health Center IVs, four Health Center IIIs and two Health Center IIs, some which are congested surpassing their capacity in regards to service unit level output.
She said implementation of city hospitals will however require land expansion especially for Kisenyi HCIV, Kitebi HCIII, Bukoto HCII and Kisugu HCIII.
In the meantime, there is need of repairs and maintenance of all KCCA health facilities, whose budget Zalwango said has been ignored in the past three financial years.
Hon. Kyofatogabye reiterated that the need for city hospitals is long overdue arguing that some of their Health Center IVs are operating at the level of hospitals.
“When you visited Kawaala HCIV, you realised that the number of deliveries almost match the number of deliveries in Kawempe Hospital. We want hospitals to address health concerns of more than 5-million-day population. We treat people all the way from Lira up to Kigezi because they all pass through the city and get problems,” he said.
MPs observed that although the city is in need of hospitals, its public health is significantly threatened by unregulated disposal of sewerage which they said is among the leading causes of morbidity.
“You will treat diseases but they will continue to increase because of the state of water pollution. People use the rainy season to release sewerage,” said Hon. Florence Nebanda (NRM, Butaleja district Woman Rep).
Hon. Nebanda said the recent flooding in the city is a testament to the appalling sewerage disposal in the drainage system.
“Imagine a whole city flooding, the capital city of a nation, lives were lost. This can affect not only health but trade as well as tourism; tourists would be discouraged from visiting a city that floods,” she said.
Bundibugyo District Woman MP, Hon. Josephine Bebona narrated her experience in down town Kampala where sewerage was released disrupting business.
The Directorate of Public Health and Environment requires Shs186.98 billion in the 2025/2026 financial year to effectively execute its mandate. However, according to the 2025/2026 budget estimates, the Directorate was allocated Shs15.31 billion equivalent to 8 percent of its requirement and a funding gap of Shs171.67 billion.
