Featured Post

MINISTER BLOCKS SHS500 MILLION DONATION TO PRIVATE HOSPITAL

Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng. File photo 

By AL-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA &JOSEPH KIGGUNDU
WAKISO – Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng has blocked   the allocation of Shs500 million to a private hospital in Wakiso District.
The money from public coffers was planned to facilitate the expansion of the private hospital.
In an August 3 letter to Wakiso District Chairman Mr Matia Lwanga Bwanika,  Dr Aceng said  the move was in line with the ministry’s plan to review the Primary Health Care Grant allocated to all private not-for-profit health facilities which assist government to realize effective  service delivery .
“Your concern and request has been noted … as of now, all private facilities that have previously been receiving and those that had been included, have been suspended and will not receive  the allocated funds,” the minister’s letter reads in part.
The minister was responding to Mr Bwanika’s July 5 letter in which he protested a plan by the Ministry of Health to give Shs500 million to Family Health Care Hospital yet many public health centres in the district are in a sorry state.
Mr Bwanika was also responding to a June 28 correspondence by Dr Asuman Lukwago, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, directing the outgoing Wakiso District chief administrative officer,  Mr Dustan Mukasa Yiga, to fast track the  procurement process and ensure that the district finances the expansion and rehabilitation of infrastructure at Family Health Care Hospital in Buwate Village, Kiira Municipality to improve its functionality and service delivery.
But Dr Aceng insists in her latest letter that her ministry has communicated to the Finance Ministry not to release the money to Family Care Hospital.
 The donation to Family Health Care Hospital had reportedly been made by President Museveni while campaigning in the area during the recent presidential campaigns. However, the presidential pledge was worth Shs100 million not Shs500 million, according to sources.
MONITOR

Comments