MBARARA, Uganda — Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH) has secured a dedicated three-phase 33kV power line, bringing relief to medical workers and patients after years of frequent power outages that disrupted critical healthcare services.
The new power connection is expected to provide a more reliable electricity supply to the hospital, which performs thousands of critical surgeries annually and operates sophisticated medical equipment that requires uninterrupted power.
The development was revealed by Dr. Deus Twesigye, the hospital’s Senior Consultant General Surgeon and Acting Senior Executive Consultant, during a staff general meeting held at the hospital to discuss operations for the 2026/2027 financial year.
Dr. Twesigye said the hospital previously relied on a shared electricity line, making it vulnerable to frequent outages that posed challenges to critical medical operations.
He said the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL), the government-owned electricity distributor, had recently completed and handed over the installations for the dedicated line.
According to Dr. Twesigye, the new power supply is highly reliable and rarely experiences outages, giving medical workers greater confidence when performing life-saving procedures.
The development has been welcomed by the hospital’s medical fraternity, particularly departments where uninterrupted electricity is critical to patient care.
In an interview, Halson Kagure, the hospital’s Public Relations Officer, said the facility operates expensive and highly sensitive equipment, including Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines, which can be damaged by sudden power interruptions.
Kagure said the situation previously forced the hospital to rely heavily on diesel-powered generators whenever the main electricity supply failed, creating a significant financial burden for the institution.
He said power instability had been particularly challenging for critical departments including the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Neonatal Unit, Operating Theatre, Radiology Department and clinical laboratories.
Ssemata Patrick, the hospital’s Engineer, revealed that the facility was spending as much as Shs6 million every week on generator fuel to keep essential services running during power outages.
The dedicated power line is expected to significantly reduce the hospital’s dependence on generators and the associated fuel costs.
Currently, all major hospital units have been connected to the new electricity supply, with the exception of the interns’ hostels and the Infectious Diseases Treatment Centre. The remaining facilities are expected to be connected in phases.
The 33kV powerline enters the hospital’s substation before passing through a circuit breaker to the hospital transformers, from where electricity is distributed to the connected units.
Dr. Twesigye, however, urged staff to use electricity responsibly as the hospital adjusts to the improved power supply.
He warned staff against leaving lights on unnecessarily during the day and in occupied offices and consultation rooms.
The hospital’s engineering team is also working to install photocell sensors that will automatically control lighting and help reduce unnecessary electricity consumption.
Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital is one of the major referral facilities serving Western Uganda, with a catchment population estimated at about 6.5 million people across the Ankole region, neighbouring districts and parts of neighbouring countries.
The dedicated 33kV connection is therefore being viewed as a major infrastructure improvement that could strengthen the hospital’s ability to provide uninterrupted critical medical services while reducing the cost of running backup generators.
For doctors, nurses, engineers and other health workers, the reliable power supply is expected to provide greater assurance that critical operations, diagnostic services and life-support systems can continue without disruption caused by unexpected blackouts.
