Yambio State Hospital | Credit | Charles Wote/Eye Radio

Health services at Yambio State Hospital in Western Equatoria have been restored after the public facility nearly collapsed and turned away patients including expectant mothers when Health Pooled Fund passed out support in April 2022, officials said.

The facility resumed functionality in July 2024 after receiving support through a new Health Sector Transformation Project led by the national Ministry of Health in partnership with the World Bank and other donor partners.

This is part of a three-year multi-donor project in which UNICEF and WHO support the implementation of health service delivery and strengthen the health system as managing organizations.

Mongoye Victoria, the Maternity In-Charge at Yambio State Hospital, said the ward was abandoned by expectant mothers due to a lack of services.

According to her, since the beginning of the new project in July 2024, the ward has seen an increase in deliveries compared to the period between January and June.

“At the beginning of this year, we had no many mothers who were coming for delivery due to the condition of the hospital, lack of drug supplies, and other materials for conducting deliveries,” Victoria told Eye Radio.

“So, in January, we had 32 deliveries for that month, but coming to July, we had 112, and that is when the hospital started receiving many mothers coming in labor. For August, we had 152. Now the number is keeping on increasing every month.”

Meanwhile, Gracia Sasa, in charge of the pediatric ward at Yambio State Hospital, said the number of children admitted with different conditions has also increased.

In an interview with Eye Radio, Sasa said the facility admits between 12 and 15 children a day and can see close to 300 children admitted in a month.

“We are admitting about 299 per month, and per day, we are admitting about 12 to 15. So, some of the cases include malaria cases, pneumonia and the diarrhea that is a common case, and anemia,” he said.

“Now we have drugs, services are going on well, only some other medication which is not there, then we request the co-patient to go and buy, and the plaster we don’t have plaster complete, they used to buy. We love our work because we cannot leave our parents to die. That is why we always be here every day.”

Gabriel Marsul, a resident of Baiparu in Yambio, is among the few men who accompany their expectant family members to the hospital for delivery. His 24-year-old daughter was in labor.

He confirmed that the services at the facility have improved after the new intervention from the national government.

“This hospital has changed; it is not like how it used to be in previous months. Since I came in the morning, indeed, I have seen a lot of changes. It is good now in a way that the situation at the facility has improved and the services are back as they used to be before.”

“Some months ago, there were a lot of challenges, and the hospital was lacking many services, but if it continues like this, I think that will be better; we are really happy now because previously we were really not happy.”

Musai Angelina, another resident of Yambio town in Western Equatoria State, also admitted that healthcare services at the state-run hospital have improved.

She is, however, appealing to the government and development partners to support the facility to continue providing affordable services to the needy population in the state.

“When my sister was on labor yesterday night, she called me from home, and I rushed and hurried with her here. Then, when we reached here, they really hurried and helped,” Angelina said.

“It needs more help from the organizations to help the healthcare workers and to support them more, to motivate them to help our mothers for them to be healthy and for the kids to be alive because many mothers are facing a lot of challenges if health workers are not being supported well.”

In April 2022, Yambio Hospital was in a shambolic condition after the Health Pooled Fund ceased paying incentives for healthcare workers, drug supplies, and technical assistance.

The facility was one of the 800 health centers across South Sudan that were receiving essential health services from the UK Government-led Health Pooled Fund.

Launched in October 2012, the Health Pooled Fund was jointly funded by the United States government, Canada, Sweden, the European Union delegation, and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, among others.

It operated in three phases across eight states until June 30, 2024, when it transitioned to the Health Sector Transformation Project on July 1, 2024.

Fortunately, the Health Sector Transformation Project, which began in July, intends to support about 1,158 health facilities across the 10 states and 3 administrative areas over a three-year period.

Despite the new intervention, Atonita Mborikinaho Emmanuel, a registered nurse in the surgical ward at Yambio State Hospital, said the government’s delay in paying their salaries remains a challenge.

Atonita is among the civil servants in the state who received their September 2023 salary only a week ago. She encourages the government to address the salary delay.

“For the salary, we cannot talk about it because, up to now, we are working just to help our people,” she said.

“We have children; we have family if we continue to work like that; that is why we are appealing to the government, the NGOs, to see how they can help Yambio State Hospital.”

Yambio Hospital is considered to be the main referral hospital in Western Equatoria State, offering maternity and pediatric care. It also provides surgical, laboratory, and pharmacy services, as well as inpatient and outpatient services, among others.

John Peter Sangara, the hospital administrator of Yambio State Hospital, said the influx of patients at the facility has increased after UNICEF’s intervention through Amref Health Africa.

“Previously, not only Yambio State Hospital, but the entire country was supported by HPF, and then, I think due to donor fatigue, HPF decided to leave the hospital; this is where the challenges really came to the hospital,” he narrated.

“In 2022, services were not there; even people left the hospital; it was even aired one day that the hospital was closed, but this year in July, now we have a new donor that is through UNICEF, and then they contracted AMREF to deliver the services.”

“They are giving us the drugs, paying the staff, and other services needed by the hospital. Now AMREF is responsible, and as you can see, the flow of the patients is now good in the hospital.”

The hospital official said they have received six new doctors of different specializations who are supporting the smooth running of the hospital.

Sangara added that the facility still needs constant power, an ambulance to respond to emergencies, and other necessary supplies.

“Currently we receive some new six doctors who are now supporting the hospital, giving services to the patients.”

“What we need, we need the drugs to be available, all types of drugs to be available, the equipment that is not here, we need the ambulance to be on the road, and then we need the power to be there, we need all the cleaning materials to be available so that the services can go.”