Civilians overwhelm Bombo military hospital

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Bombo General Military Hospital is overwhelmed by the number of civilians, who drain the facility’s stock forcing the army to refer its officers to private facilities.

The Hospital’s Director Col. Dr Ronald Nangamba says that 80 per cent of the patients attended at Bombo are civilian patients who have no relationship with the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).  

“You realize that the practice of attending to 80 per cent of patients that you initially did not budget for creates a lot of constraints on the available resources and this explains why we have stock-outs of supplies,” Nangamba said.  

He was appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Thursday, to explain audit queries raised in the June 2018 audit report. In the report, Auditor General queried the first option patient referrals to the Nakasero Hospital Kampala, a private for-profit facility that is known to be fairly expensive.  

He said that the patients are referred for medications such as Hepatitis B vaccine, Urinalysis, Complete Blood Count, among others, yet there are other public hospitals like Mulago Referral Hospital from which an advantageous combination of cost, quality and sustainability could be attained.  

“The criterion for referral was not clear as most medication had been shifted from the military hospital to Nakasero hospital. Referring staff to a private hospital without limits has resulted in committing the Ministry as evidenced with a domestic arrear of 1.37 billion Shillings,” the audit report said.  

But Dr Nangamba partly blamed the development on the consumption of supplies by a category of patients who are not initially budgeted for to the referral of the army primary consumers.   

He said that the Military Hospital has Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with a number of referral facilities which include Nakasero, Mengo Hospital, Lubaga Hospital, Lacor Hospital and the private wing at Mulago Hospital, Uganda Cancer Institute and Uganda Heart Institute.  

He said that besides pressure from civilians, Mulago Hospital where they would refer their patients has been undergoing refurbishment that affected services at the private wing. He added that a number of services that were needed by their patients were not provided for in the Cancer Institute and Uganda Heart Institute. He cited, among others, MRI Scans.

But Kalungu West MP Joseph Sewungu dismissed Dr Nangamba’s explanation saying that the Hepatitis B Vaccine can be provided by even smaller facilities. He added that the Military Hospital should give priority to its officers and men as oppose to civilians.     

Dr Nangamba explained that patients were sent out for Hepatitis B Viral load to determine whether they should be enrolled in medicine or not.  

Kwania County MP Tonny Ayo questioned why the Military Hospital does not make use of different laboratories to carry out tests which are not exorbitant. He alleged that there could be connivance among doctors in the different hospitals to get money.  

Defence Ministry Under-Secretary Edith Buturo said that they have guidelines that are instrumental in controlling the influx of patients demanding to be transferred to private hospitals. She explained that the nature of ailment regardless of rank determines the referral.  

Buturo added that her Ministry was also scheduled to engage Health, Finance and Local Government Ministries to discuss the issue of the influx of civilians in the Bombo Hospital and find ways of providing more support to the facility.

PAC Vice Chairperson Okin Ojara directed the Ministry to submit the guidelines used to refer patients to private hospitals and also details of ranks of different patients that were referred to Nakasero Hospital in the year under review.

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