MBARARA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE

&TECHNOLOGY

SUCCEED WE MUST

FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
BACHELOR OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
COURSE CODE: BME 4202
COURSE UNIT: HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT
Name; RWEBISHAKA EDWARD

Reg. No. 2016/BME/034/PS

LECTURER: DR.ENG OBUGOLOCH JONES (PHD)

question
Explain the organization of Uganda Healthcare system. Indicate:
 The Human Resource structure at ministry of health
 Classification of hospitals + services they provide

 Number of hospitals in each category

 Leadership the HR structure

 Populations they serve

 Services they provide

 Sources of financing (Central/Local Government, user fees, donor funds, etc)

UGANDA’S HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

Health care system includes all activities whose primary purpose is to promote,
restore or maintain Health. Health Care Delivery has mostly been through modern and
Traditional practices in Uganda.

Organisation of health care according to management

 Public Sector (Government hospitals)

 Private Not for Profit (Faith Based)
 Private Medical Practice
 Traditional and Complementary, Herbal medicine, Traditional Birth Attendants, Bone
Setters, Spiritual Healers
 Community health workers/promoters/drug peddlers

STRUCTURE OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN UGANDA

National Referral and Teaching Hospital
At the top of the healthcare chain is the national referral hospital. It offers all the services as
well as a teaching hospital. There are two national referral hospitals in Uganda. That is
Mulago hospital for all medical conditions and Butabiika hospital for mental illness related
cases. It serves the whole country.

Regional Referral Hospital (RRH)

There are 10 RRH which should have all the services offered at a general, plus specialised
clinics–such as those for mental health and dentistry–and consultant physicians. Each of these
hospitals serve a population of over 2 million people.

Health centre IV/ District Hospital

This level of health facility serves a county. In addition to services found at health centre III,
it should have wards for men, women, and children and should be able to admit patients. It
should have a senior medical officer and another doctor as well as a theatre for carrying out
emergency operations.

Health centre III

This facility should be found in every sub-county in Uganda These centres should
have about 18 staff, led by a senior clinical officer. It provides preventative, promotive,
outpatient, curative, maternity, inpatient health services, emergency surgery and blood
transfusion, and It should also have a functioning laboratory.

Health Centre II
According to the Ugandan government's health policy, every parish is supposed to have one
of these centres. A health centre II facility, serving a few thousand people, should be able to
treat common diseases like malaria. It is supposed to be led by an enrolled nurse, working
with a midwife, it runs an out-patient clinic, treating common diseases and offering antenatal
care.

Village health teams/community medicine distributors

The first contact for someone living in a rural area would be a medicine distributor or a
member of a village health team (VHT). Each village is supposed to have these volunteers
using bicycles. They still have no medicine, but they can advise patients and refer them to
health centres.
 The biomedical engineering department in Uganda

Health facilities have a wide range of medical equipment at different levels of the health care
delivery system. The staffs in these Health Facilities are responsible for ensuring that it is
used and stored properly and faulty equipment is reported to departments responsible for
maintenance.
At the central level, the Unit directly responsible for the management of medical equipment
is the Health Infrastructure Division (HID) under the Clinical Services Department. The
National Advisory Committee on Medical Equipment is mandated to give appropriate clinical
and technical advice to MOH regarding medical equipment.
At District and Health facility levels, the management of medical equipment is the
responsibility of the respective Administrative and Technical Departments. The District
Health Officers (DHOs) are directly responsible for planning and management of medical
equipment in the District Local Governments.
For medical equipment, RWs established under Regional Referral Hospitals (RRHs) carry out
medical equipment maintenance; while the HID of the MoH oversees supervision of
maintenance activities.
Figure 1 the organisation structure of the maintenance department of the health sector

References

[1] J. Kamwesiga, "UGANA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM Comunity and Home Based Rehabilitation
Course," KI, Kampala, 2011.

[2] MOH, Health sector Development plan 2015/16-2019/20, Kampala: GOU, 2015.

[3] MOH, THE SECOND NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY Promoting people's health to enhance Socio
Economic Developement, Kampala: GOU, 2010.

[4] MOH, "NATIONAL HEALTH FACILITY MASTER LIST 2018 A complete list of all health facilities in
Uganda," GOU, Kampala, 2018.

[5] MOH, "Guidelines For General Hospital Management Boards," GOU, Kampala, 2019.

[6] MOH, Administrative Structure Entebbe Regional Referal Hospital, Kampala: GOU, 2019.

[7] MOH, "Operation Manual for Regional Medical Equipment Maintenance Workshops and Medical
Equipment Maintenance Guidelines," MOH, Kampala, 2013.