Pope John's Hospital Aber, commonly known as Atarapa Hospital is a private hospital in Atarapa Trading Centre,

Oyam District Oyam District is a district in Northern Uganda. Like most Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Oyam, where the district headquarters are located. Location Oyam District is bordered by Gulu District to the north, Pader District ...

Lango sub-region Lango sub-region is a region in Uganda covering an area of 15,570.7km consisting of the districts of: *Alebtong District, Alebtong *Amolatar District, Amolatar *Apac District, Apac *Dokolo District, Dokolo *Kole District, Kole *Lira Distric ...

, in the Northern Region of

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East 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*) territor ...

. The hospital is named after

Pope John XIII Pope John XIII ( la, Ioannes XIII; died 6 September 972) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 1 October 965 to his death. His pontificate was caught up in the continuing conflict between the Holy Roman emperor, Otto I, and t ...

Location

The hospital is located approximately , by road, southwest of Oyam, where the district headquarters are located. This is approximately west of

Lira Regional Referral Hospital Lira Regional Referral Hospital, commonly known as Lira Hospital, is a hospital in Lira in the Northern Region of Uganda. It is the referral hospital for the districts of Amolatar, Apac, Dokolo, Lira, Kole, and Oyam. Location Lira Hospita ...

, in the city of

Lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Israe ...

. Pope John's Hospital Aber is located approximately , south of

Gulu Regional Referral Hospital Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, commonly known as Gulu Hospital is a hospital in Gulu, northern Uganda. It is the referral hospital for the districts of Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum, Lamwo and Pader. The hospital also serves as one of the teaching hos ...

, in the city of

Gulu Gulu is a city in the Northern Region of Uganda. It is the commercial and administrative centre of Gulu District. The coordinates of the city of Gulu are 2°46'54.0"N 32°17'57.0"E. The distance from Gulu to Kampala, Uganda's capital and large ...

. The geographical coordinates of Pope John's Hospital Aber are: 02°14'06.0"N, 32°23'16.0"E (Latitude:2.235000; Longitude:32.387778).

Overview

Pope John's Hospital Aber is a private,

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

community hospital A community hospital can be purely a nominal designation or have a more specific meaning. When specific, it refers to a hospital that is accessible to the general public, and provides a general or specific medical care which is usually short-term, i ...

owned by the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Lira The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lira ( la, Liren(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Lira in the Ecclesiastical province of Gulu in Uganda. History * July 12, 1968: Established as Diocese of Lira from Diocese of Gulu Ordinaries * Cesare Asi ...

and is accredited by the ''Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau''. The hospital is administered by

Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church The Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church is a Roman Catholic religious public association of the faithful in the Diocese of Spokane in Washington. The group was formed by 15 nuns from Mount Saint Michael who were expelled in June 2007 from the ...

, a religious congregation. The hospital has a capacity of 220 beds.

History

The hospital was founded as a

dispensary A dispensary is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispen ...

in 1953. In 1969, the Comboni Sisters opened a full service hospital at the site of the dispensary. In 1993 the hospital was handed over to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lira, who entrusted its administration to the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church. The two major challenges include (a) a high number of HIV/AIDS patients, accounting for 6 percent of prenatal patients and 9 percent of the adult Oyam District adults and (b) a Radiology Department that is poorly equipped and poorly resourced.

Hospital operations

As of December 2019, the hospital attended to 27,827 outpatients annually, on average. It admitted 6,800 inpatients every year, on average, with a bed occupancy ratio of approximately 40 percent, on average. There were 1,700 maternal deliveries every year, on average, with a caesarian section rate of 21 percent. Patient user fees accounted for about 20.2 percent of total hospital income at that time.

Recent developments

In May 2021, the hospital maneuvered their own way and installed a new

CT scanner A computed tomography scan (CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...

, valued at USh1.3 billion (approx. US$369,000), at this hospital without government injecting a single cent. As of that time, it was the only working CT scanner in the Northern Region of Uganda.

References

External links

* {{Oyam District Hospitals in Uganda Oyam District Lango sub-region Hospitals established in 1953 1953 establishments in Uganda Catholic hospitals in Africa