Mbarara hospital secures dedicated power line to boost service delivery
MBARARA CITY, October 7, 2026 — Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital [MRRH] has secured a dedicated three-phase electricity line, ending frequent power outages that have disrupted critical medical operations at the facility.
The development was announced by Dr Deus Twesigye, the hospital’s Senior Consultant General Surgeon and Acting Senior Executive Consultant, during a staff general meeting held recently at the hospital to review operations for the 2026/27 financial year.
The hospital, which performs thousands of critical surgeries annually and houses high-value diagnostic equipment requiring a stable electricity supply, had previously relied on a shared power line, making it vulnerable to frequent outages.
Twesigye said Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited [UEDCL] had completed and officially handed over the installation of the dedicated 33kV line to the hospital.
He said the new power supply is more reliable and will give medical teams greater confidence when performing complex procedures without the risk of sudden power interruptions.
Hospital Public Relations Officer Halson Kagure said the improved power supply will also help protect expensive medical equipment from damage caused by sudden power cuts.
“The hospital runs very expensive assets, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging [MRI] machines, which can be severely damaged by sudden power cuts, leading to unbearable repair costs,” Kagure said.
He added that, before the dedicated line was installed, the hospital faced a significant financial burden from running diesel generators to keep critical departments operational.
These included the Intensive Care Unit [ICU], Neonatal Unit, operating theatre, radiology department and clinical laboratories.
Hospital Engineer Patrick Ssemata said the hospital had been spending up to Shs6 million a week on diesel to power generators and keep essential services running.
“The facility was spending up to Shs 6 million per week on generator fuel just to keep critical operations running uninterrupted,” Ssemata said.
He said all major hospital units have now been connected to the new electricity system, except the staff hostels and the Infectious Diseases Treatment Centre, which will be connected in phases.
The 33kV line feeds the hospital’s internal substation, where electricity passes through a circuit breaker to transformers before being distributed to the connected clinical units.
Twesigye, however, cautioned staff against unnecessary energy consumption as the hospital seeks to keep its electricity costs under control.
He urged staff to switch off lights in unoccupied offices and consultation rooms, saying the engineering team is preparing to install photocell sensors to automatically control lighting.
Serving a catchment population of more than 6.5 million people across the Ankole Sub-region and neighbouring districts, the installation of the dedicated 33kV line marks a major infrastructure upgrade for Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital and the delivery of specialised health services in western Uganda.
https://thecooperator.news/mbarara-hospital-receives-medical-equipment-from-american-family/
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