By: Ismael Kasooha
PADER
The Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Nabbanja Robinah recently broke ground for the construction of two health facilities in Pader District.
The health facilities to benefit from this arrangement are Awere health center III which is being upgraded to Health Center IV and Ten-nam Health Center III.
Awere sub county is the epicenter of the nodding syndrome disease that affected Northern Uganda for several years with over 1,316 cases recorded.
The people of Awere have for some time been complaining of lack of health center IV to handle such cases of nodding syndrome disease and this has come in time to rescue the situation.
During her working visit to Pader, the Prime Minister broke the ground for the two facilities and also handed them over to the UPDF Engineers Brigade to immediately start construction.
PM Nabbanja cutting the tape at Awere Health Center III during the launch of the upgrade to Health Center IV in Pader District
“The NRM government promised to bring services closer to the people and this is exactly what we are doing. Upgrading this facility to a Health Center IV will improve service delivery and also ensure the socio-economic transformation of the society in Pader,” said Nabbanja.
Nabbanja asked the public to be vigilant and guard against stealing construction materials because this might compromise the quality of the works. She assured the people of Pader that she will liaise with the Minister for Health to address the prevailing challenges at the facilities.
“I will get in touch with Dr. Ruth Aceng, the Minister for Health, to ensure that the facility gets the much needed drugs, supplies and equipment,” said Nabbanja.
Nabbanja handed over a Memorandum of Understanding to the UPDF engineering brigade to construct a Shs400 million theatre at the facility.
Aruu South Member of parliament Christopher Komakech, said that Awere Health Centre still requires about Shs2 billion for better service delivery.
“We thank the government for the efforts to improve service delivery in our district and ask for more,” said Komakech.
The District Chairperson Rtd. Col Fearless Obwoya applauded the government for supporting the vulnerable persons especially those affected by the nodding syndrome.
The government provided ox ploughs to nodding syndrome affected homesteads to improve on their household incomes by increasing productivity.
Col Eng. Godfrey Tukamwakiira, of the UPDF Engineers Brigade pledged to do the work to the expected standards and appealed for cooperation of the local leaders.
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