Kampala — MEMBERS of Parliament on the social service committee were yesterday shocked by the appaling conditions the Mulago Hospital.

During an impromptu visit to the national referral hospital, the MPs discovered that the facility is faced with a number of challenges ranging from obsolete equipment to understaffing.

Guided by the hospital director, Dr. Edward Dumba, and his deputy, Dr. Isaac Ezati, the MPs found three pre-mature babies in the intensive care unit sharing an incubator.

"This is horrible. How can this be happening? As a country, we need to give priority to the health sector if we want to develop," the committee chairperson, Rosemary Sseninde, remarked.

Dr Jamiru Mugalu, the head of the unit noted that sharing the incubator poses the risk of spreading infections among the babies.

"It's not our wish but we have no option. Most of the incubators are not working and others are old and beyond repair," he told the MPs.

Dr. Mugalu explained that the unit had five incubators out of which only two were functioning, while nurses had to fix bulbs in the remaining five incubators to improvise, in order to handle the increasing number of pre-mature babies.

He said the unit needed 25 incubators.

The syringe, which is used to pump fluids into babies, had broken down, forcing the nurses to do it manually, Mugalu added.

The legislators were further shocked when they discovered that midwives in the labour ward use razorblades to cut the umbilical cords of babies instead of a scissor.

The department's head, Dr. Sam Kalisoke, said they ask mothers to carry their own razorblades because the hospital lacks the mama kits for delivery.

Due to understaffing, Kalisoke said, "sometimes medical students are called in to attend to delivering mothers."

"You can see that one is a student, but she is helping the midwives, because they cannot handle the numbers," Kalisoke said while pointing at a midwife attending to a delivering mother.

The labour ward designed to handle 20 mothers, is currently accommodating more than 100, Kalisoke said. Some mothers who had delivered were found lying on the floor with their babies. Kalisoke explained that in most cases, the personnel do not have time to clean the beds before they are used by other mothers to deliver.

This, he said, increased the spread of infections.

The tour also revealed the horrible state of the hospital's toilets, and cracked ceilings.

Due to lack of space, the drugs-store over packed and risk getting spoilt.

In the mortuary, the air conditioner broke down years ago.

Dumba said some refrigerators collapsed, yet the facility handles about 30 bodies a day.