Water shortage has hit hard Jangokoro health centre III in Jangokoro Sub_county Zombo district, eliciting a torrent of anxiety amongst local leaders and the community. #WhisperEyeNews
The facility serves over 12,000 Population from the Sub_counties of Jangokoro, Athuma, Padea town council and some parts of DR Congo.
It’s the only running destination for the impoverished community that outrightly rely on it for medical assistance.
However, for more than a month, The facility has been running without its solar-powered water source due to a system breakdown, leaving many residents and local leaders with a crisis of confidence.
“Water and sanitation are essential for life and health, and also essential for dignity, ” empowerment and prosperity. Water and sanitation are human rights, fundamental to everyone, unequal access to safe drinking water, might expose patients and children to infections”, a concerned citizen who went anonymous told the Whisper Eye News.
A health worker said on the phone “We can’t raise this concern for fear of reprisal otherwise we have been operating under harsh conditions here. This health facility is situated on top of a hill and this makes it hard for especially the expectant mothers to move down the far off streams in search of safe water, but who am I to raise my voice”,
Locals are accusing the District health department of “giving them a cold shoulder deliberately knowing fully well how important water is in every aspect of life”,
The district councillor of Jangokoro sub-county David Arua directed strong criticism towards the Zombo district local government for failing to listen to their outcry.
Arua Said for months, expectant mothers have been travelling nearly two kilometres in search of water for domestic use which he says has been subjecting them to various health complications.
He wondered why the district is taking long to address the crisis which to him is more of an emergency.
” We have not been having water at Jangokoro health centre III for nearly two months, we tried raising concerns about it severally but nothing has been done. We have so many expectant mothers here who are risking their lives to go and look for water in far-off villages like Kololo and Ambaki two kilometres away from the facility, are we really Ugandans ? “, Arua explained
Francis Bolingo, the district councillor of Athuma Sub County who sits in the Zombo district committee of social services condemned the silence of concerned leaders at the District water department over the matter.
He also tasked the district leaders to ensure the facility gets water and also called upon the LC3 Chairperson of Jangokoro Sub_county to source an alternative source of clean water for the facility in the next financial year.
“Am not so happy about the issue of water shortage in Jangokoro sub-county, I’m tasking the LC 5 chairperson and the District engineer to ensure that people of Jangokoro get water at the facility, even the Chairperson LC3 should source for alternatives, we can’t have a health facility like Jangokoro without water source”
In response, the LC 5 chairperson of Zombo District James Oruna Oyullu acknowledged the concerns raised. He said “The crisis is a result of the system breakdown at the solar-powered water source which we had sent the technical team to rectify”
He also gave assurance to the irate community that the District ” is working around the clock to fix the technical glitches.”
