By Juma Nsubuga
Government has been urged to increase the budget of health sector in Buvuma district.
The call was made by the assistant district health officer Muhammad Mukwaaya.
He says with limited funds, the district can no longer manage to accommodate the rampant number of visitors from neighboring districts including Buikwe, Mayuge, Jinja and Mukono who always visit the district to practice fishing.
Mukwaaya said HIV, diahorea and Malaria are on increase due to poor sanitation and rampant prostitution.
“Fore sure we are overwhelmed by the number of visitors visiting this Island even from neighboring countries like Kenya and Tanzania” Mukwaaya said adding that people always come here for tourism and practice fishing.
He explained that shortage of latrines is responsible for diahorea case increase in the district as 62% population practice open defecation.
On HIV, he said the district has tried to distribute condoms but however, advised people to stick to them or abstain from sex to reduce on HIV infections which he said the cases are high.
He said that Buvuma district has a population of over 154200 people but has only 12 health facilities with limited drugs which cant accommodate people.
“We have only one health center 4 and 8 health center III which has just been upgraded from health center II.We further urge government to upgrade our health center IV to a hospital level to enable us offer services to voters” he noted.
Mukwaaya further said that the district also have a challenge of transport where by most of health facilities don’t have transport means like boats.
Meanwhile area MP Robert Migadde Ndugwa (NRM) also urged government to improve the referral systems in Buvuma district.
“My role is to continue lobbying for my people and I will continue doing it. Some Islands are going to be connected to the national min grid through the sea cable technologies” he added.
He however, called upon government to create a special developmental program for fishing communities.
“Government will need to come up with a special program for the fishing communities since the available programs like PDM and Emyooga don’t feet in fishing communities because fishing inputs are very expensive. We are waiting for the implementation of President Museveni’s pledge for a special fund for fishing areas” he said.
On Education Sector.
Buvuma district is a hard to reach area. It has 52 scattered islands with a population of over 154200 people with only 2 government aided seed schools which include Lukale and Nailambi.
According to the district education officer Hussein Bugembe government has tried to upgrade education sector in Buvuma but there are so many challenges affecting the progress of it within the area.
Bugembe says, Buvuma has a challenge of limited schools especially secondary schools and the distance from one school to another is too big for students to walk which leads students to quit studying.
“We also face a challenge of regular attendance of teachers and lack of toilets in schools. The performance has at least improved in the last ten years although teachers absent themselves from classes” he said.
He attributes this challenge to education service commission who always send teachers who have never experienced Island conditions in Islands which he says that they end up not giving services to students.
He however urged education services commission to give an opportunity to the district education bord of Buvuma to recommend and recruit people to work in the Island to solve the issue of absentism.
