SERERE – The push for improved healthcare in Serere District has gained fresh momentum, with Woman Member of Parliament Esther Lucy Acom leading calls for the government to move beyond promises and expedite the operationalization of the long-awaited Serere Community Hospital.
Addressing mourners at the burial of the late Rev. Mesilam Abilet in Serere, Acom highlighted the widening gap between the district’s rapidly expanding population—now exceeding 340,000—and its current medical infrastructure. Despite the government’s 2025 commitment to upgrade Serere Health Centre IV under the Uganda Essential Health Care Package, progress has stalled, leaving thousands of residents in a precarious position.
“Most of our people still have to travel to Soroti Regional Referral Hospital for basic and emergency healthcare,” Acom stated. “Operationalizing this facility in Serere will not only serve our people better but will also significantly decongest the regional referral hospital.”
The upgrade, which was confirmed earlier this year by the Ministry of Health, is intended to transition the facility into a Community Hospital, with the potential to eventually attain General Hospital status. However, for local leaders and residents, the transition remains a slow-moving administrative process while the realities on the ground grow increasingly dire.
Serere District LCV Chairperson, Eng. Martine Onguruco, reinforced the urgency of the situation, sounding an alarm over maternal health. He noted that the existing facility lacks the specialized equipment and capacity required to handle complicated deliveries, leading to preventable maternal deaths.
“These cases of deaths among mothers can only be addressed by the full operationalization of the hospital,” Onguruco warned, urging the central government to prioritize the facility as a matter of life and death.
The appeal, delivered in the presence of the State Minister for Teso Affairs, Clement Ongalo Obote, and a host of regional leaders, prompted a direct response from the government. Minister Obote acknowledged the bureaucratic delays and offered a firm commitment to the district.
“Acom has raised a very important point,” Minister Obote said. “We shall support her in following up, and I vow that the hospital will be operationalized.”
For the people of Serere, who have advocated for this upgrade for over a decade, these assurances are a welcome sign, yet they emphasize that the window for further delays has closed.
Beyond the immediate goal of reducing congestion at the regional level, the operationalization of the hospital is expected to bring critical services—such as surgical interventions, improved maternal care, and emergency medical response—closer to the citizenry. As it stands, the district continues to struggle with chronic understaffing and limited medical supplies, hurdles that health officials agree can only be cleared by the official transition to a fully functional hospital.
As the political leadership aligns on the issue, the eyes of the community remain fixed on the Ministry of Health, waiting for the facility to be staffed, equipped, and finally opened to serve the people of Serere.
