Health workers at Fort Patiko Tourism Site in Gulu district are demanding for a fully equipped emergency response unit due to the rampant accidents the tourists experience when they come to visit the site.

According to Dr. Daniel Komakech, a Medical Clinical Officer at Patiko Health Center III emphasized that the site experiences emergencies which the health center cannot handle, thus there is need for an emergency response unit nearby.

“The health center is more than two kilometers away and lacks the capacity to handle emergencies, and this results into causalities being referred to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital which is over 40 kilometers away from the site,’’ Komakech said.

Komakech appealed to the Tourism Ministry to collaborate with the Health Ministry to have a response unit established at the site in order to manage accident cases before they are referred to other main health facilities.

According to the State Minister for Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities, Martin Bahinduka Mugarra, Fort Patiko is one of the historical colonial structures and cultural sites.

Fort Patiko Site located in Northern Uganda in Ajulu Parish, Patiko Sub County-Gulu district was built as a military fort by Sir Samuel Baker who left in 1988 and was later used by Emin Pasha and Charles Gordon serving under the Equatorial Uganda British Protectorate. It is also known as Bakers Fort which is actually still alive and functioning with dark markings assumed to be the blood of the slaves.