Mothers compete for the beds and hospital labour suite at Kawempe Referral Hospital.

“The patient numbers are so many. The referrals are abnormal from lower health facilities.” Health Ministry officials.

Health centres provide comprehensive emergency obstetric care, including caesarean sections, blood transfusion and anaesthesia, most of them across the country do not have adequate capacity in terms of personnel and supplies.

Kawempe hospital’s situation is not different from other public funded hospitals. There are more than 80 mothers deliver of their babies on a daily basis.

They have to compete for the beds in the hospital labour suite, which forces others in early labour to lie on the floor.

The post-natal ward where mothers are supposed to be referred six hours after normal delivery is only equipped with a mattress where they lie on the floor without beds, which exposes their babies to infections that can lead to death.