Butabika Hospital was established in 1955, and currently is the only National Referral Mental Health Institution in the Country. The Hospital provides specialised care to people with mental illness. At the same time, it is a teaching hospital for all cadres specialising in Mental Health ranging from nursing cadre to Postgraduate students. In addition to the above, Butabika Hospital also provides O
ut-patient services to the people from the surrounding area. Butabika Hospital is about 10 km East of Kampala City and it is the second biggest Hospital in Uganda with a bed capacity of 550, though the number often ranges between 750-780. In the next five years, the hospital aims at focusing more on developing and offering super specialized services alongside the general mental health care services. To date, super specialized services have started in the areas of Alcohol/Drug abuse, Psycho-trauma and Child and Adolescent mental health care. More of such services are expected to develop in other disciplines. The Hospital currently handles a busy outpatient department with contact of about 350 clients per day in both the general and mental healthcare areas. Over the years there has been an increasing number of patients attended to at the hospital in spite of the inadequate human and other resources. In the years 2006, 2008 and 2009, the total numbers of patients attended to was 22,116, 23,966 and 25,440 respectively. The Hospital continues to train different cadres in mental health, conducts mental health related research and also offers support supervision countrywide. Following the rehabilitation and refurbishment under the African Development Bank, the Hospital infrastructure has been improved and equipped to be able to carry out all the above functions given the appropriate and required human resources. Furthermore, these developments necessitate expansion of the existing structure to be able to cope with the current demands on Butabika Hospital. New positions are proposed in all departments to address the existing gaps.
