Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital is appealing for a budgetary allocation of sh4.7 billion to cover patients’ meals in the upcoming financial year 2024/2025. During a session with the Parliament Committee on Health on January 9, 2024, the hospital’s Executive Director presented the budget framework paper, urging Parliament to raise the allocated budget for meals from sh2.439 billion to sh4.7 billion.
Dr. Juliet Nakku, Executive Director of Butabika Hospital, revealed that the hospital feeds approximately 313,000 patients annually at an average cost of sh6,187. This cost includes providing breakfast, lunch, and dinner. However, Dr. Nakku emphasized that the ideal cost of feeding each patient should be sh15,000 for three meals a day.
Despite the current budget constraints, the hospital is dealing with an average of 1,200 daily inpatient admissions, surpassing its bed capacity of 550. Dr. Nakku highlighted the need to increase the meal budget, emphasizing that food is an integral part of the treatment, and the hospital is responsible for the complete provision of patient meals.
A significant aspect contributing to patient admissions at Butabika National Referral Hospital is substance abuse, particularly alcohol, which accounts for about 20% of total admissions, with alcohol-related cases contributing over 40% to this figure.
The 2014 nationwide non-communicable risk factor survey (STEPS), commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO), revealed that 25.9% of men and 14.3% of women in Uganda were heavy alcohol users. Additionally, the 2014 Global Status Report on alcohol indicated a per capita consumption of 9.8 liters, higher than the African regional average of 6.0 liters. Alcohol use was also associated with a 5.8% prevalence of alcohol use disorders.
