WORLDFOCUS

In Uganda’s state hospitals and clinics, the government provides free treatment and medicine — but supplies of both doctors and drugs are short.

Hospitals receive some help from volunteer organizations like Doctors Without Borders that provide medical staff, but low salaries and long hours deter many Ugandan doctors from service.

Worldfocus special correspondent Martin Seemungal travels to a small hospital in northern Uganda where patients come by the hundreds and wait for hours to receive treatment from a handful of dedicated caregivers.

Below, bloggers write from Uganda about their experiences on the ground.

Blogger “Arie” describes walking through a crowded Ugandan hospital, writing that the “Western nightmare stereotypes about hospitals here just aren’t true” and the facility is sanitary, despite poor resources and overcrowding.

Blogger “Helen” of the University of North Carolina Health Care program reports on her meeting with Ugandan Minister of Health Stephen Mallinga, in which they discussed the country’s struggles to address the health needs of rural areas.

A blogger at “Just in Uganda” writes that shortages of tuberculosis medication and anti-malarial drugs are disappointing in a country that has made such gains and modernized.

American doctors Scott and Jennifer Myhre write from rural Bundibugyo, Uganda, to remember their friend, Doctor Jonah Kule, who died a year ago during an outbreak of Ebola.