| dc.description.abstract | The quality of health care services remains low as well as health care service delivery in Uganda. According to the World Health Organization, Uganda’s health care system continues to suffer under funding of less than 15% of the national budget (WHO, 2012). Also the availability of human resources for health is low with a doctor-patient ratio of 1:24,725 against the WHO recommendation of 1:10,000 and nurse-patient ratio of 1:11,000 against the recommended 1:400 (WHO, 2013). The general objective of the study was to establish the quality of health care services delivered at Nakivale Health Center III in Nakivale Refugee camp, Isingiro District during the month of September, 2015. The specific objectives of the study were to determine the staffing capacity, available for health care service delivery, assess the availability of medical supplies in health care service delivery, to determine the accessibility to health care services and analyze the availability of amenities and utilities at Nakivale Health Center III.
The study was a cross-sectional study that involved 150 patients for quantitative data as well as the health facility in-charge and store-manager for qualitative data. A semi-structured questionnaire with both open and close ended questions was used in the data collection and a key informant interview guide for data collection. Simple random sampling and purposive sampling was used in the selection of the respondents in the study for patients and health workers respectively.
The results from the study indicated that the staffing capacity of the health facility was low with a limited number of health workers yet the population of the patients was high. The availability of medical supplies at the health facility was limited with some of the medicines such as anti-malarial drugs and anti-biotic out of stock as well as some laboratory reagents such as those required conducting typhoid and syphilis test being not available at the health facility. The high numbers of patients also contributes to the long waiting time at the health facility since the patients were many yet the health workers were few. Although the health facility had a waiting area where patients could sit and wait for health services, this space.
The health facility also experienced challenges such as lack of enough water and power shortages. Therefore, the government through the ministry of health should increase health worker staffing by recruiting more health workers especially nurses and clinical officers at the health facility to provide health care to the patients. Also, the ministry of health should motivate nurses by recognizing their efforts in serving the patients as well as improving their remuneration. | en_US |
