Mulago women’s hospital sends premature babies to other facilities due to lack of specialists

Mulago Specialised Women and Neonatal Hospital has started referring premature and critically ill newborn babies to other health facilities because it lacks enough specialist doctors.

Hospital officials say the transfers expose the infants to serious health risks.

The Acting Executive Director of the hospital, Dr Sam Ononge, disclosed the situation while appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (Central Government) on March 17, 2026.

Ononge told lawmakers that the hospital is unable to provide specialised treatment to more than half of the babies admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

He explained that many of the newborns are premature and require expert care that the hospital currently cannot offer.

“Forty-five percent of our babies who are admitted in the NICU are pre-terms, less than 32 weeks and they require to be checked in their eyes. We don’t have a specialist doctor to check these babies’ eyes,” he said.

Ononge warned that the lack of specialised services may leave some babies with lifelong complications. He said some infants who survive may later lose their sight.

“The danger is that the baby may survive but later become blind which is a disability,” he said, adding that “the babies sometimes get exposed to cold and infections during transfers”.

Because the hospital also lacks certain surgical specialists, newborns who need operations are referred to Mulago National Referral Hospital. Ononge said these movements also carry medical risks.

He also raised concern about staff shortages in the neonatal intensive care unit. According to him, the number of nurses is far below the required level.

“As we stand now, we are like one nurse to six babies which is unbearable. The staff are getting burnt out and you can easily make mistakes when providing services,” he said.

Ononge asked Members of Parliament to support efforts to increase staffing to at least 60 per cent of the required workforce.

Looking ahead, the hospital plans to establish a paediatric centre and expand its in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) programme. Ononge said the facility has already recorded successful IVF births and will soon begin accepting donors to support the service.

Deputy Chairperson of the committee, Gorreth Namugga, urged government to prioritise funding for the hospital and ensure key specialists are recruited.

She said women’s health services deserve special attention in the national budget.

“If government can provide finances to other sectors, the women’s facility should be a priority,” Namugga said.

However, she advised that although treatment costs for vulnerable patients should be reduced, hospitals should avoid completely waiving fees because the system could be abused.