By Gilbert Akampa Kakurugu
HEALTH -Mbarara
Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH) Administration have been challenged the Master of Nursing students of Mbarara University of science and technology to observe the ethical code of conduct while dealing with patients.
The call has been made by Juliet Ankunda, the Mbarara regional referral hospital Principal Nursing Officer during an orientation session of twenty-five masters students held in the hospital boardroom.
On many occasions, patients across different health facilities have raised comcerns about health workers attitude as they seek for health services.
This trend is mostly common in maternity wards where mothers are admitted to deliver. It is said that most midwives and nurses are fond of torturing and being rude to expectant mothers who are due for delivery.
PNO Ankunda said that all patients should be treated with a maximum care adding that they come to the hospital as a final resort.
She reminded the masters students that Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital is the center of excellence adding that one of the things they cherish is discipline.
Students were also urged to emulate Florence Nightingale an English reformer credited for founding nursing.
Nightingale lived from 12th May 1820 – 13th August 1910 and she played a crucial role in treating wounded soldiers during Crimean war.
Dr Grace Nambooze, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Nursing Science at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) which is a sister institution of MRRH, urged the intern students to serve as agents of change for the time they will spend at the hospital.
Dr Nambooze who will be one of the supervisors from the side of the university said that they should learn how to improvise in times of hardships and save the patients.
Halson Kagure, the Public Relations Officer at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital told our reporter that the twenty-five students received will be distributed to Psychiatry Unit, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Accidents and Emergency to get hands on clinical skills.
Kagure emphasized that they will be learning under the close supervision of professors or senior medics as it has been the norm.
Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital which is a teaching affiliate of Mbarara University and other Medical Institutions in the country is headed by the Hospital Director Dr Celestine Barigye and it has over the years transformed into a center of excellence due to number of specialized services which are rarely found in other regional referral hospitals.
Talks of elevating it to a national referral hospital have been simmering for a while and sources reveal that if it’s empowered with enough structures, it has all what it takes to become a national referral hospital.
