Patients seeking treatment at Bulumbi Health Centre III were left stranded on Wednesday after a fire gutted the facility’s medical store, destroying essential drugs, patient records and other medical supplies in an incident that has severely disrupted healthcare services in the area.
The fire, which according to preliminary police findings is suspected to have been caused by an electrical short circuit, broke out in a building housing the medical store, medical records section and computer laboratory.
By the time firefighters arrived at the facility, much of the property had already been reduced to ashes, leaving the outpatient department operating without medicines and forcing patients to seek treatment elsewhere.
For Vivian Penzi, the visit to the health centre was supposed to bring relief from persistent back pain. Instead, she arrived to find health workers and residents helplessly watching flames engulf the medical store.
Penzi said she was shocked to learn that the facility could no longer provide treatment and appealed to government authorities to urgently intervene and restore services at the health centre.
The situation was equally devastating for Prossy Namatovu, an HIV/AIDS patient who had gone to collect her routine antiretroviral drugs.
Namatovu said she was heartbroken to find the medical store on fire, noting that the facility has been her dependable source of life-saving medication for years.
Health experts warn that interruptions in HIV treatment can expose patients to severe health complications, including drug resistance and weakened immunity, especially for those who rely entirely on public health facilities for their medication.
The officer in-charge of the health facility, Lam Mayende, a senior clinical officer, said he was alerted about the fire by the facility cleaner before immediately contacting the police fire and rescue team.
Mayende, however, said the emergency response suffered delays after the police fire truck reportedly developed mechanical problems on the way to the scene.
He explained that the destruction of drugs and medical supplies by both fire and smoke has left the Out Patient Department unable to effectively attend to patients, forcing many residents to either purchase medicines from private clinics or travel to neighbouring health centres for treatment.
The fire also destroyed patient records kept in hard copy files and on computers, raising concerns about the loss of critical medical information for hundreds of patients who depend on the facility for continued treatment and monitoring.
John Ouma, the chairperson of Bubolwa B Village where the health centre is located, said the incident has greatly affected healthcare delivery for thousands of residents from Busia as well as neighbouring districts of Tororo District and Bugiri District who rely on the facility for medical services.
The chairperson of the Bulumbi Health Unit Management Committee, Raymond Owino, described the fire outbreak as a major setback to service delivery and said patients are currently being advised to seek treatment from nearby health facilities as authorities wait for government engineers to assess the damaged building.
Owino said engineers will determine whether the affected structure can be renovated or whether a completely new building will be required.
Jessica Amuge, the officer in-charge of Fire and Rescue Services attached to Uganda Police Force at Busia Central Police Station, confirmed the incident and said investigations into the exact cause of the fire are ongoing.
The incident has also renewed concerns over the vulnerability of public health facilities to fire outbreaks, especially in rural areas where emergency response systems remain weak and many health centres lack modern fire prevention equipment.
Residents and local leaders are now calling on government to urgently restock medicines, restore patient records where possible and strengthen fire preparedness in public health facilities to avoid similar disasters in future.
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