Support Services Department
The Support Services Department at Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital provides the essential non-clinical support that keeps the hospital running smoothly. Its core function is to facilitate the work of the Clinical, Nursing and Community mental health departments, by ensuring that vital support equipment and services are always available for quality healthcare delivery.
The department is headed by the Principal Hospital Administrator. He superintends over a range of critical operational units. These include: Finance, Procurement, Transport, Security, Stores, Maintenance, ICT, Catering, Medical Records, Incineration, Mortuary and Laundry Units.
Finance Unit
This unit is headed by the Principal Accountant. It is responsible for managing the hospital’s financial resources, including budgeting, accounting, billing, and financial reporting. It ensures that funds are allocated appropriately to different departments, salaries are paid on time, and expenditures are monitored for accountability and compliance with regulations.
Procurement Unit
This unit is headed by the Senior Procurement Officer. It handles the acquisition of goods and services required for hospital operations. This includes purchasing medical supplies, equipment, and non-medical items while ensuring quality, cost-effectiveness, and adherence to public procurement policies and standards of the government of Uganda.
Transport Unit
Manages the movement of people and materials within and outside the hospital. It oversees the use and maintenance of ambulances, staff vehicles, and other transport means, ensuring timely and safe transportation of patients, specimens, supplies, and personnel.
Security Unit
Ensures the safety and protection of hospital property, staff, patients, and visitors. It monitors entrances, responds to security incidents, controls access to restricted areas, and works to prevent theft, violence, and unauthorized entry.
Stores Unit
This unit is headed by a Senior Inventory Management Officer. It is responsible for receiving, storing, and issuing medical and non-medical supplies. It maintains accurate inventory records, ensures proper storage conditions, and supports timely distribution to departments to avoid stockouts and wastage.
Maintenance Unit
This unit is headed by the Senior Biomedical Engineer. It ensures that the hospital’s infrastructure, equipment, and utilities are functional and in good condition. It handles repairs, preventive maintenance, and technical support for electrical, plumbing, civil, carpentry and medical equipment systems within the hospital.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Unit
The unit is headed by an IT Officer. It is responsible for management the hospital’s information systems, networks, and communication infrastructure. It supports electronic medical records, data security, internet services, and troubleshooting of hardware and software issues in the hospital.
Catering Unit
This unit is headed by the Catering Officer. It is responsible for planning, preparing, and serving three nutritious meals to patients daily. It ensures food safety, hygiene, and dietary compliance according to patients’ medical and nutritional needs.
Laundry Unit
This unit provides clean linens, uniforms, and other washable items needed for hospital operations. It manages the collection, washing, disinfection, drying of patients’ linen and uniforms in the hospital.
Mortuary
The unit is headed by a Mortician. It is responsible for the safe, respectful, and secure handling, storage, and documentation of deceased patients. It provides a space where bodies are preserved, often using refrigeration, until they are identified, claimed by relatives, or transferred for burial, or post-mortem examination. The unit also works closely with medical staff, pathologists, and funeral services to ensure compliance with legal, cultural, and ethical procedures surrounding death.
Incineration Services
Keeping the hospital environment clean and hygienic and saving the environment is a top priority. Butabika is equipped with a modern incinerator capable of handling both medical and domestic waste. Waste is carefully segregated at the ward level separating hazardous from non-hazardous materials before being transported to the incinerator.
The incineration unit is tasked with the safe disposal of medical and biological waste through high-temperature burning. This includes materials such as used syringes, contaminated dressings, pathological waste, and other hazardous items that could pose infection or environmental risks. The unit plays a critical role in infection control and environmental protection by reducing waste volume and destroying harmful pathogens and toxic substances before disposal.
