The Hospital Bed

I’m sitting in on the Family Planning Implementation Team’s quarterly meeting for Ssembabule District.

Noelina, who works in Ssembabule’s hospital, mentions that one of the surgical beds at the hospital is broken. The bed cannot be adjusted up and down, she explains, so tubal litigation and vasectomy operations cannot be performed. Men and women are turned away every day.

Around the table are MIHV staff, a representative of the Director of District Health Services and a Community Development officer who works for the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development.

The hospital has a second, working, surgical bed in a different room, but they are unwilling to use it for these operations. Noelina explains the other room is reserved for emergencies.

The district claims they do not have the money for the bed and has asked MIHV to pay for the repairs. MIHV says they will not pay, knowing that in doing so they will not only pay for the bed, but open the door to funding requests every time something is broken.

The repairs would cost 80,000 shillings ($48).

Paige, MIHV’s Country Director, parts her lips. She seems weary, frustrated, but her voice stays calm. “This is now our third quarterly meeting where we’ve talked about the surgical bed needing to be fixed.”

$48 would give men and women in this district access to permanent forms of birth control.

$48 would mean fewer Ugandan children would grow up in families that cannot afford to care for them.

At the end of the meeting they have found no solution. They will meet again in December.