Butabika National Referral Hospital, commonly known as Butabika Hospital is a hospital in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

's capital and largest city. It is the mental health national referral hospital for the entire country's estimated population of 36 million in 2014.

Location

Butabika National Referral Hospital is located in

Butabika Butabika is a location in south-eastern Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. Location Butabika is bordered by Bweyogerere to the north, Kirinnya, a Ward in Kira Municipality to the east, Luzira and Port Bell to the south, Mutungo to the west ...

, a neighborhood within Kampala. Butabika lies in the southeastern part of the city, in

Nakawa Division Nakawa Division is one of the five administrative divisions of the city of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. The town of Nakawa is the site of the division headquarters. Location Nakawa Division lies in the eastern part of the city, ...

, adjacent to the northern shores of Lake Victoria,

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

's largest fresh-water lake. This location is approximately , by road, east of Kampala's central business district. Butabika Hospital is about southeast of

Mulago National Referral Hospital Mulago National Specialised Hospital, also known as Mulago National Referral Hospital, is a component of Mulago Hospital Complex, the teaching facility of Makerere University College of Health Sciences. It is the largest public hospital in Ug ...

. The coordinates of Butabika Hospital are: 0°18'57.0"N, 32°39'33.0"E (latitude: 0.315845 and longitude: 32.659160).

Overview

Butabika Hospital is a public

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...

, funded and administered by the

Uganda Ministry of Health The Ministry of Health is a cabinet-level government ministry of Uganda. It is responsible for planning, delivering, and maintaining an efficient and effective healthcare delivery system, including preventive, curative, and rehabilitative service ...

and general care in the hospital is free. The hospital is the only referral psychiatric hospital in Uganda. Opened in 1955, it has a bed capacity of 900, as of February 2010. The hospital also serves as the psychiatric teaching hospital for

Makerere University College of Health Sciences Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) is a constituent college of Makerere University, Uganda's oldest university. The schools of the college offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the biomedical sciences, health science ...

for both

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

and

postgraduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and ...

training, especially for the degrees of

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United K ...

(MBChB), Master of Medicine in Psychiatry (MMed Psych) and

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

(PhD) in psychiatry. Butabika Hospital is also the location of the Institute of Psychiatric Clinical Officers, a school administered by the Uganda Ministry of Health, which trains high school graduates to become psychiatric clinical officers. It is the only school of its kind in

Eastern Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historica ...

. Whilst working at the hospital n the early 2000s,

Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu (born 1974) is a professor, researcher, epidemiologist and psychiatrist at the Department of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine, Makerere University in Uganda. Her research is particularly focused on supportive gro ...

noticed a large number of HIV/AIDS patients were being admitted with serious mental health problems. This inspired her to begin a research programme which has since proven that culturally appropriate, group psychotherapy, which is led by non-professional practitioners is an effective treatment of depression in HIV patients, which has positive impacts on their physical health.

References

External links

Butabika Hospital Homepage

Uganda Ministry of Health Homepage
{{Kampala District Hospital buildings completed in 1955 Psychiatric hospitals in Uganda Hospitals in Kampala Nakawa Division 1955 establishments in the British Empire Teaching hospitals in Uganda

Location

Overview

See also

References

External links