Health facilities rundown: Birisi

MANY health facilities in Southern Highlands are run-down and have deteriorated over the years, says Provincial Health Authority chief executive Joseph Birisi.
Birisi said no maintenance had been done on the facilities which now needed rehabilitation and renovation.
“The current functioning health facilities do not meet the national health standards. District hospitals are level-four hospitals. But in Southern Highlands, level-four facilities are operating as level three and two.
“They don’t even have the infrastructure and medical equipment or even staff to operate as level three and level two facilities,” he said.
Birisi said health facilities in the province needed immediate rehabilitation and redevelopment.
There are 173 health facilities in the province which includes one provincial hospital and three district hospitals.
Birisi also thanked his management team and staff for ensuring that people continued to receive
health care services despite the many challenges faced.
“The last two years were very challenging for the province as a whole. We went through election violence, the aftermath of election violence, we went through political unrest and civil unrest, we were hit by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake. So I would like to thank the management team and staff that at no one time during all these challenges and crisis were health centres closed,” he said.
Birisi thanked surrounding communities near the health centres in Southern Highlands for their support in providing security to ensure that health services continued.