Importance of LH on the local economy - Lacor Hospital > Home

4Executive summarySt Mary’s Lacor Hospital, founded in 1959 in Gulu, Northern Uganda, is the second largest Hospital inUganda as for size, quantity and range <strong>of</strong> services delivered. In more than 50 years it expanded from arelatively small health unit to what is today called “Lacor Hospital Complex”, including the hospital, onenursing school, one school for laboratory technicians and three peripheral Health Centres. In addition, thehospital is a teaching site <strong>of</strong> the Faculty <strong>of</strong> Medicine <strong>of</strong> the University <strong>of</strong> Gulu and <strong>of</strong> the School forAnesthetic Officers <strong>of</strong> Mulago Hospital, the biggest hospital in the country, located in the capital Kampala.A study conducted in 2003 by the Department <strong>of</strong> Health Services <strong>of</strong> Uganda Martyrs University (UMU) on“The economic impact <strong>of</strong> Lacor Hospital on the surrounding community” established that “… Lacor Hospitalhad and still has a strong economic impact on the area” (Uganda Martyrs University, 2003).Considering the major changes that have occurred in the area, the Lacor Hospital Complex Managementrequested a repetition <strong>of</strong> the study.The most important change is the return <strong>of</strong> peace and security after more than 20 years <strong>of</strong> guerrilla warwith its corollaries <strong>of</strong> death, abductions, displacement and social disruption. Lacor Hospital never ceased t<strong>of</strong>unction and, for the entire duration <strong>of</strong> the war, it was seen as a sort <strong>of</strong> bulwark <strong>of</strong> safety, a safe havenwhere the sick got good quality health care and where thousands <strong>of</strong> people, for years, every night, soughtrefuge and protection. The way in which the hospital and its personnel faced the devastating epidemic <strong>of</strong>Ebola, in 2000-2001, only strengthened the image <strong>of</strong> the hospital as a sort <strong>of</strong> “sanctuary”. Slowly, peace isallowing the population to resume a progressively normal life. Freedom <strong>of</strong> movement led to a flurry <strong>of</strong> neweconomic activities.This study attempted to determine and quantify, at least in part, the economic importance <strong>of</strong> the hospitaland to assess possible changes in the way the hospital is seen and perceived by the community in the newand continuously changing reality.Lacor Hospital Complex and, especially, the St Mary’s Hospital Lacor (hereafter simply called Lacor Hospital)still play a very important economic role for the surrounding community and for the entire Gulu District.For the Financial Year (FY) 2010/2011, the study estimated the financial flows going directly to the localeconomy from the hospital (salaries, purchases <strong>of</strong> supplies, local taxes) and indirectly through the hospital(local expenditures by in- and out-patients and by the students <strong>of</strong> the three schools attached to thehospital). It also assessed the induced effects <strong>of</strong> the direct and indirect flows on the local economy.The study relied on data contained in hospital records, on formal interviews to hospital personnel, patients,owners and managers <strong>of</strong> local businesses and their customers and to a series <strong>of</strong> key informants. FocusGroup Discussions, personal observations and informal interviews were also utilized.Even in the changed environment, with many more economic actors playing an important and continuouslyevolving role, the Hospital is still a major economic player in the local economy.As in 2003, the bulk <strong>of</strong> the Lacor Hospital Complex income (76%) came from abroad, the major financerbeing the Corti Foundation, providing about 35% <strong>of</strong> the total. Adding the contribution <strong>of</strong> the UgandaGovernment, about 84% <strong>of</strong> the total income came from outside Gulu District.