History

Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, commonly known as Mbarara Hospital, is a government owned referral hospital which stared in the 1930s as a nursing school for the SouthWestern Ankole region.

Its status was then elevated in the 1950s to a district hospital for the former Ankole region until it was again elevated to a regional referral facility in the early 1990s.

When the government started a second public university ­ Mbarara University of Science and Technology in 1989, the hospital which is within the university’s vicinity also became a teaching hospital for the University to train doctors, nurses, pharmacists and laboratory technologists. It also attracts interns from other institutions such as Bishop Stuart University, Mayanja Memorial Hospital and St. Francis Hospital, mutolere in Kisoro District.

The Mission Statement of Mbarara Hospital is to provide comprehensive, super specialized health services, conduct tertiary health training, research and contributing to the health policy.

Although the hospital’s official bed capacity is 350 beds, its actual bed capacity is way above that, which is the main reason for the ‘floor cases’.

Currently, the hospital serves a population of over four million people in its catchment area comprising the districts of Mbarara, Bushenyi, Ntungamo, Kiruhura, Ibanda,Buhweju, Rubirizi, Mitooma and Isingiro. The hospital also receives patients from kabale, masaka, Fort Portal and neighboring countries like Rwanda and Tanzania.

The management has just finalized a Master plan that will guide new developments at the hospital over the coming decade. The implementation of that master plan is already underway.

A new three­ block complex was recently completed, thanks to funding from the government and other partners.