Private clinics sprouting around Mulago national referral hospital

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Dr. Byarugaba Baterana, the Executive Director of Mulago Specialised National Referral hospital wants the licenses of private clinics and pharmacies operating around and within Mulago hospital revoked.

Speaking during the weekly Ministry of Health supervision meeting at the hospital, Baterana said there are lots of fraudulent and unprofessional practices taking place in these facilities, which are at times blamed on Mulago hospital employees.

Citing a recent case where a child was operated badly early this week and is currently in the intensive care unit, Baterana said the masqueraders use the private facilities to fleece members of the public of their money while others act as brokers of big private hospitals who divert patients referred to Mulago hospital in order to earn some commission.

Addressing Dr. Joyce Moriku Kaducu and Robina Nabbanja, both Health State ministers, Baterana said that as they are gradually reopening the hospital, they are also working to ensure that people are clear on what services they can access free of charge and what involves cost-sharing.

He said already 12 of the 22 operating theatres have opened and departments like radiology are operational. Dr. Baterana however said masqueraders are riding on the current reorganizing of the hospital to take advantage of people’s ignorance to fleece them of their hard-earned cash. To tackle this problem, the Health Minister in charge of General Duties Robina Nabbanja said they agreed in their previous meeting that all staff on duty should have properly labelled uniforms with their names and specialty to beat the problem of masqueraders.

However, staff revealed that uniforms alone will not solve this problem since some of the fraudsters netted were properly donning doctors’ coats.

But this is not the first time the issue of private providers in Mulago is coming up. In 2019, President Museveni issued a directive calling for the closure of private laboratories and pharmacies operating within government hospitals but this was never implemented.

In an earlier interview,  the National Drug Authority (NDA) Board Chairman Dr. Merdard Bitekyerezo told URN that they couldn’t withhold the licenses since they received another directive asking them to hold on.

A number of pharmaceutical outlets such as First and Echopharm pharmacies operate within Mulago hospital.

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