President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has directed the immediate relocation of all sickly veterans from the private Nakasero Hospital to Entebbe Grade B Hospital, which he ordered be urgently equipped to handle their treatment.
Museveni, speaking during the Heroes Day celebrations at Kaliiro Town Council in Lyantonde District, said the treatment costs at Nakasero had become “unbearable,” and that government will now fully manage the veterans’ healthcare at the public facility in Entebbe.
“The cost of treating our veterans at Nakasero is too high. From now on, they will be treated at Entebbe Grade B Hospital under full government care,” Museveni said, reaffirming his administration’s renewed oversight of veterans’ welfare.
The president also used the national celebration to salute the veterans and their families for their sacrifice during Uganda’s liberation struggle, pledging continued support to improve their living conditions.
In a related announcement, President Museveni pledged to tarmac the Ntuusi–Kashagama road as a gesture of gratitude to the people of Lyantonde for their long-standing support to the National Resistance Movement (NRM). He said this is part of a broader government effort to improve road infrastructure to spur socioeconomic transformation.
He further revealed plans to install communal water irrigation systems in Lyantonde and other drought-prone areas, while cautioning farmers against nomadic practices and instructing them to protect wetlands.
Meanwhile, 50 Ugandans were decorated with Heroes Day medals in recognition of their outstanding service and personal sacrifice.
Awardees included the Deputy Chief of Defense Forces Lt. Gen. Sam Okiding, veteran journalist and author William Pike, and various police officers and freedom fighters. The medals were awarded in multiple categories, including the Luwero Triangle Medal, Kabalega Star Medal, and Gallantry Star Medal of Police.
Maj. Gen. George Igumba, the chancery of the Presidential Awards Committee, presided over the reading of the medalists’ names.