The health system in Uganda has undergone a number of changes since independence in 1962 and the Primairy Health Care (PHC ) concept was a timely innovation, and very welcome in Uganda. And also as a response to the global economic decline of the 1970s and 1980s, the World Bank and IMF introduced Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) in some developing countries and accordingly a package of reforms was proposed to address problems in the health sector, and these were called health sector reforms (HSR). Both PHC and HSR have faced similar and dissimilar challenges.
At Matany hospital we manage the Health Centres in Napak District. Each Health Centre has beds and provides both clinical and preventive services. Clinical services offered include treatment of common ailments within outpatient and inpatient settings with maternity services (ANC, conducting normal deliveries, identification and referral of complicated cases to the Hospital). Among the preventive services offered are immunisation, routine health education in the Health Centres and the nearby communities including schools, Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) for HIV/AIDS is provided during outreach programs. Each Health Centre has a management committee with representation from the local community leaders.
Staff for the Health Centres are catered for via Matany Hospital and the District. The senior staff of Matany Hospital, on routine and emergency basis, provide support and supervision. Routine support supervision occurs once in a month for each Health Centre, while emergency supervision is carried out whenever needed. The Health Centres are fully incorporated into the district health system.
In order to increase access to services for the most vulnerable, Matany Hospital and its Health Centres still offers free medical care to the children below 6 years and pregnant mothers. The free medical care provided to the children and pregnant mothers in the Health Centres, since 2004, greatly led to improvement on accessibility in the Health Centres. Primary Health Care activities.
Matany Hospital offers PHC activities within the Hospital, in the Health Centres. The services provided include routine immunisation under UNEPI, follow-up of TB patients on therapy, school health and health education to the community and emergency immunization programme when organized by Ministry of Health. Immunisation activities.