Consultancy Services for Supervision of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital

The project involves design review and construction supervision of the 5-floor Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) facility. The unit is designed to provide comprehensive care for new-born, particularly focusing on those who are born prematurely, have breathing difficulties, or face other critical health challenges at birth.

Uganda’s neonatal mortality rate remains high at 27 deaths per 1,000 live births, accounting for nearly 45 percent of all infant fatalities—driven largely by preventable causes such as birth asphyxia (26 percent), prematurity (25 percent), and infections (31 percent) (Source:https://www.impactpool.org/jobs/509265) Despite increases in institutional deliveries to 73 percent, regional referral hospitals like Mbarara lacked dedicated, adequately equipped Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), resulting in overcrowded general pediatric wards, limited capacity to manage high-risk newborns, and continued perinatal losses across the sub-region.

The consultancy provides supervision for the construction and outfitting of a new, World Bank-funded four-story NICU block at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital—a first of its kind among Uganda’s 17 regional referrals—that will house 100 neonatal beds, advanced incubators, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines, and integrated monitoring systems to ensure round-the-clock critical care.