| dc.description.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. | en_US |
