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Medical council sets new consultation fees

Dr Katumba Sentongo

Owing to increasing complaints of patients being overcharged at health facilities, the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council released a set of new guidelines streamlining average charges for particular health procedures.

Dr Katumba Sentongo, the Council registrar said the report on Professional Fees Guidelines for Health Care Professionals in Uganda will act as a guide for patients to rate how much they are likely to be charged before seeking particular services. He said the review was done after thoroughly analyzing data on professional fees in the region and are thought to be fair to both the service providers and seekers.

Some of the fees set include consultation for specialists set at Shs85, 000, general practitioners set at between Shs15952 and Shs30, 000. Fees paid to a specialist for performing a postmortem is set at Shs100, 000 and a general practitioner is set at ShsShs50, 000. According to the guidelines, the Intensive Care Unit should charge between Shs275, 000 and 500,000. Last year, cases of patients being detained for failure to foot their medical bills sparked media debate with many blaming hospitals for overcharging. However whereas setting fees caps might be a good idea, questions over how these guidelines will be implemented linger as medical centers are run as businesses whose fees are determined by market forces.

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editor@independent.co.ug

One comment

  1. Hullo People?
    I was commissioned by one of the institutions to conduct a review of charges for medical consultations in Uganda.
    The study is still ongoing but so far in my literature review I came across a study that did a similar assignment. It shows that an average cost of medical consultation for a condition (excluding treatment if found positive) 35,000/-. I share here excerpts of the study by USAID and a price list by one of the health service providers.
    The genesis of my task was that some schools were still insisting on asking their students to furnish them with a medical checkup form at the beginning of every term, hence they wanted to establish the cost implications to the parents and guardians.
    While many had dropped it all together, some still had that policy. But still they had no justifiable explanation as to why they insisted on it because all they did was to put the form on file or trash it. All the schools that previously required this form had a wide range of medical conditions for assessing and many of those conditions require a consultant, while some require a general practitioner or lower level health personnel.
    I established that the minimum charges for a consultant for a simple condition is about 30,000, but some go as high as 150,000. This also varies according to the level of the health service provider, as well as location – with high end Kampala based providers being the highest. If they parents did genuine tests, the minimum expense they would incur would be around 450,000/=
    I also interviewed a few parents and here are the views of some of them. I am writing a verbatim interview with one; Names withheld to protect their identity).
    For me I have a friend who signs it for me – I give him 20,000/- and he indicates they have reviewed all.
    Do I have all the money to pay a Dentist, Gynecologist, cardiologist, physician, ENT specialist, … then to test for malaria, syphilis, sickle cells, epilepsy… the form is so big and if each is to sign there you may end up paying millions? How do you want me to pay that and then also look for school fees? Leave me alone.
    But you said you are born again – are you not telling lies by furnishing the school with forged information?
    Now what do you want me to do? Steal or let my child stay at home?

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