Assessing the factors affecting maintenance of health infrastructure at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital in Eastern Uganda

Abstract

This study examined the factors that affect maintenance of health infrastructure at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital. The study was guided by three objectives which included to; identify the causes of the poor state of health infrastructure, the effects of poor health infrastructure and strategies that can be adopted to improve health infrastructure at Jinja regional referral hospital. The study used a descriptive research design and considered a quantitative approach. The study targeted a sample size of 187 respondents but 170 managed to respond back representing a response rate of 91%. Data from the health workers at Jinja regional referral hospital was collected using a questionnaire survey. The study findings revealed that most significant causes of poor state of health infrastructure were high user volumes overburdening the infrastructure, poor maintenance culture, inadequate supervision, limited prioritization of maintenance, poor funding by the central government, misuse of the facility by the occupants and infrastructure vandalism by users. It was further revealed that the most significant effects of poor state of health infrastructure were delays in health service delivery, disruption of workflow, frequent breakdown of healthcare system, increased risk of healthcare associated infection, negative impression about the healthcare system and increased patient morbidity and mortality rate. Concerning the strategies, the study revealed that the most significant strategies to improve health infrastructure were carry out awareness campaigns, installing visible signage reminding users how to use the infrastructure, establishing strict financial oversight and carry out regular audits, establishing a dedicated team responsible for monitoring, maintaining, and repairing the health infrastructure, government expanding the hospital facilities and service delivery centres. It therefore recommended that the central government should increase the fund allocated to hospitals, putting in place strong internal controls to safe guard and detect any fraud or embezzlement of funds, hospitals themselves need to enter into public private partnerships to raise more funds to finance the rehabilitation, repair and maintenance activities of the health infrastructure and there is need for the hospitals to develop infrastructure rehabilitation and maintenance plans and frameworks to guide maintenance and repair of facilities.