UPDF National Referral Hospital Board Completes Governance Retreat in Kigo

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]I'm pleased to be part of this strategic retreat that has brought all of us together since Monday 25th to date to review and consolidate the governance framework and mechanisms intended to oversee and guide the successful operations of the UPDF National Referral Hospital.

[00:00:28]I want to commend the board and management of the hospital for organizing this important retreat as yet another milestone towards the evolution of the hospital as the state-of-the-art medical facility envisaged by its founders. As key stakeholders we are here to align the governance of the UPDF National Referral Hospital with the universal best practices for hospital at the level of care.

[00:01:08]The key expected outcomes of this retreat included among others a strengthened governance and accountability framework and an agreed implementation roadmap with hindsight with hindsight, sorry of the impending commissioning of the hospital.

[00:01:36]Concerning the former the ministry is committed to ensuring that the hospital operates along the lines of a company limited by guarantee with considerable levels of autonomy to allow of and experience in decision making in the day-to-day operations of the hospital.

[00:02:03]Consultations are underway with the Accountant General in this regard.

[00:02:08]Now, concerning the commissioning, the expectation of the leadership remains a daunting challenge.

[00:02:19]This retreat should renew our commitment to achieving this key milestone and cause us all to hit the ground running after here.

[00:02:31]The bottlenecks in the procurement processes of equipment necessary for the hospital's effective operation is a matter we should collectively address with clear delivery timelines.

[00:02:45]The policies approved at this retreat are not simply regulatory checklists.

[00:02:53]They define the foundation and standards that will ensure strategic oversight, alignment of practice with global health care trends, and will hold leadership accountable.

[00:03:11]The policies are living documents that will require annual audits to ensure that they remain relevant, effective, and applicable to the institution's growth. Once we have done all these, they are expected to ensure the highest quality of care to our clients.

[00:03:34]The policies will additionally safeguard the institution, protect staff, and ensure that we meet international accreditation standards.

[00:03:45]Aware that health care is rapidly evolving with new technology to meet changing client expectations.

[00:03:55]Our people are used to going out to India, Germany, UK.

[00:04:01]So, when you talk of state-of-the-art hospital here in Mbuya, they'll be comparing with what they've seen out there.

[00:04:13]So, we have to ensure that we meet our clients' changing expectations and provide them with a a service that is as good as what they go to seek outside of uh Uganda.

[00:04:32]The UPDF National Referral Hospital must therefore be leader in specialized health care and transformative education, training, and research.

[00:04:48]You are not going to treat all of them, but we expect you, National Referral Hospital, to carry out that transformative education, to train, and also carry out research. Research is very critical in a referral hospital.

[00:05:10]Once again, allow me to congratulate the board, the management, and facilitators of this strategic retreat on the significant ground covered over the past 3 days towards developing key policy and planning documents that will enable monitoring and tracking of results.

[00:05:36]Special appreciation goes to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, and Dr. Babetesire, who were able to attend the retreat despite their frontline role in the management of the current Ebola outbreak. We are all proud to be associated with UPDF National Referral Hospital, UPDF doctors for the work that you are doing. And right now, the fact that whenever there are epidemics, you're at the frontline.

[00:06:12]You're at the frontline, and the work that you do really everybody feels that it is the best that can be offered internationally. So, I thank you. Thank you, UPDF.

[00:06:28]And uh we wish you the best in uh you operating the new hospital.

[00:06:35]>> I am Professor Francis Omaswa. I'm the chairman of the board of directors of the UPDF National Referral Hospital.

[00:06:45]And for the last 3 days, we've been having a board retreat.

[00:06:51]Also attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs.

[00:06:57]And addressed by the joint staff chief of health.

[00:07:07]And closed today by the permanent secretary.

[00:07:11]During the 3 days, we have gone through the governance manuals for the hospital.

[00:07:18]Including strategic plans for 5 years, a business plan, and the human resources manual, procurement and disposal, as well as the financial manual. So, those documents will be refined now, integrated, and will be ready for final approval at the next board meeting in about 3 weeks time.

[00:07:44]And then they will be used by the staff for the governance of the hospital. Oh, yes, the objectives of the retreat have been achieved. The main objective was to go over the governance manuals.

[00:08:00]And we have gone over five manuals.

[00:08:04]And we have taken time to go through each one of them virtually one by one.

[00:08:12]And there are things to improve and they have been improved. There are other things to integrate and they have been integrated like the vision, the mission, the core values. They are going to appear in the same language in all the manuals.

[00:08:28]So, we are ready to go. The governance manual is key.

[00:08:33]The institutions needs to be very well governed, very well run to the highest international standards.

[00:08:43]And you need these manuals for that.

[00:08:45]Everyone needs to know what their role is as human resource, what their role is in terms of financial management, what their role is in terms of planning for the hospital.

[00:09:02]And you know, it's everything. The manuals are what is used to achieve the highest possible governance standards. And that is what kills many institutions here in Africa.

[00:09:15]Governance is poor and therefore they can't perform to the highest expected standards. And we avoid that by having these documents first and using them. And we will use them. We have an excellent board, very experienced people.

[00:09:31]And we we we are going to make sure that this hospital performs.

[00:09:37]We look forward really to this being one of the best hospitals, not just here in Uganda, but in the African region and internationally. We hope to have this hospital accredited at international level, being able to receive not only local patients, but also international patients. And here in Uganda, it will also be open to the general public on top of the entitled uh UPDF staff and their families. So, the future looks bright. There are other new private hospitals coming up in the country, but we are going to be one of them and very happy to compete with them.

[00:10:23]>> Of course, we are still in the process of recruiting the human resource.

[00:10:29]And of course, this started with the planning.

[00:10:34]Looking at the facility, its scale, and the scope of services, and then work out full range of the different uh categories of personnel that we shall require.

[00:10:49]And of course, we went ahead to also develop uh the governance and management policies and procedures for the human resource.

[00:11:00]And uh this is one of the subject matters that we have been dealing with in in this retreat uh to ensure that we attract the best and we also motivate them in order to be able to retain them and to be able to get the best outputs out of them in terms of the packages of motivation that we have arranged. So, it has been a long process and it is still work in progress, but we have put most of the the the the the the the the tenets of the framework that we require to ensure that we have the best and they are well facilitated, motivated to perform their work and to stay with us.