Adjumani, UG:- The long-awaited intensive care unit (ICU) at Adjumani General Referral Hospital has finally been delivered by a reputable Adjumani-based construction mogul; Hotel Zawadi Ltd.
The facility, funded by the Development Response to Displacement Impact Project (DRDIP) has 8 beds for high-dependence care and an emergency unit with 10 beds which according to the office of the Medical Superintendent will be used for handling those in critical care.
Adjumani Hospital was originally gazetted as a 100-bed facility but with the upsurge in the population following the influx of refugees mainly from South Sudan whose number equals that of the natives, the hospital has been elevated to 363-bed facility as it is currently among the top 10 high volume hospitals in the Country.
The Shs1.76bn project has been delivered in a record contract duration of 9 months according to DRDIP engineer, Mr Nathan Ayiko describing the contractor; Hotel Zawadi Ltd as a competent, dependable and committed firm.
In a recent interview with DailyExpress, Eng. Ayiko attested that the ICU facility is one of the projects with the highest quality measures executed due to the contractors’ commitment to comply with the specifications and standards of the project.
“All materials like sand, aggregate and concrete blocks were tested prior to bulky supply and all test results were compliant to specifications as a result we never registered structural defects. And all concrete grades used had mixed design from the central material laboratory ministry of works in Gulu.”
The contractor has been lauded for following the mix designs and that all the mixes were batched using gauge boxes to maintain the standards required. Basically, the contractor’s work was executed within the contract duration according to Eng. Nathan.
Mr. Amaza Emmanuel, Managing Director of Hotel Zawadi Ltd noted that his team faced uphill challenges with external works especially landscaping, walkways, drainage channels and septic tanks which were later included in the contract as extra works which necessitated contract time to be extended by 3 months.
Mr. Amaza said construction works is complete and the supply of equipment and gas piping is also complete aside from the supply of two major pieces of equipment like manifolds and refrigerator which were ordered and would be delivered in the first week of April.
He said all fittings prescribed in the contract like air conditioning, alarm, fire detectors ICU and emergency beds have been accomplished while electric labelling and compound small grass planting are in the process of final execution.
The district DRDIP officer Adjumani Mr Gulam Abubakar said ideally the facility should now be functional since all the equipment required are in place apart from the manifold and refrigerator which were not available in the country but expected this month (April) that is when the facility will be commissioned.
Mr. Gulam hailed Hotel Zawadi Ltd for doing a commendable job which is a landmark in Adjumani Hospital and the district since ICU facilities are expensive ventures for local governments ‘to fund.
He lauded local contractors for exhibiting the highest standards of discipline and general workmanship where no shoddy work and unnecessary delays were registered.
“My office has taken note of the following contractors who made dedicated commitments and displayed unmatched work standards yielding results beyond our hopes these are; Gweru General Merchandise Limited, Hotel Zawadi Limited, Kate Contractors and Shataman Construction Company Limited.
Adjumani DHO (District Health Officer) Dr, Drametu Dominic has extolled district leaders to appropriate funds for the ICU facility and believes several lives that were lost due to lack of emergency facilities at the hospital will not happen if the right personnel are deployed at the facility.
Dr. Drametu said the ICU facility will require 2 specialist medical doctors,1 senior medical officer,4 medical officers,2 intensive care nurses of degree level,4 intensive care nurses at diploma level and 3 enrolled nurses.
He however allayed the fears of leaders and the population that the manpower requirement should not sound as difficult to achieve because some of the health workers can be trained to man the facility.
During the site handover of the high voltage Adjumani Hospital ICU project to Hotel Zawadi Ltd on March 14, 2024, at Adjumani Hospital board room, Adjumani RDC Mr Taban Data Peter cautioned the district procurement officials against awarding DRDIP contracts to dubious contractors who ends up delivering second-rate work
“The procurement officials award contracts to some dubious contractors simply because they have soft hands but when it comes to contract management, they deliver substandard work”. The RDC said.
The contract for the building and equipping of the Intensive care Unit was originally awarded to Adjumani-based local contractor, Zawadi Construction Company Limited at the original contract sum of shs1.6 bn and the contract duration was 6 months,
A report shared by the office of CAO that time showed that, out of the 27 infrastructure contracts under the 7th disbursement two contractors have been identified as difficult and incorrigible since they have continually tried to deviate from the contract specifications while others are perpetually not at site.
Such contractors according to an official from the office of CAO will have to be restrained and on the extreme, their contracts will have to be terminated with the view of blacklisting.
The multi-billion DRDIP Project that is bankrolled by the World Bank and Government of Uganda is a 5 years project which officially ended on December 31, 2023, but was extended up to June 31, 2024, upon request from OPM because some of the infrastructural and Environmental sub-projects had not been completed by the deadline.
In Adjumani 4 infrastructure sub-projects and 4 other Environmental sub-projects are still ongoing and will hopefully beat the deadline as there will be no more deadline extensions since government of Uganda is in negotiation with the World Bank for the second phase of DRDIP, according to information from DRDIP desk office Adjumani.
Adjumani district was allocated shs 56.4 bn for financing a total of 384 sub-projects and the funds were all absorbed with no notable eyebrows on corruption and political manipulations in sub-project allocations as the district council followed rules and observed the guidelines DRDIP diligently.
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