Patients to continue nodding as funds delay
Children affected by nodding disease wait at a treatment centre in Kitgum recently.
What you need to know:
The Ministry of Health requested for Shs7 billion emergency funding from Finance ministry for treating nodding disease nearly a month ago but the funds are yet to be disbursed.
Kampala
Thousands of children suffering from nodding disease in northern Uganda will continue to wait for a comprehensive intervention with the Health ministry still unsure of when the Shs7 billion requested for from Finance will be released.
The available Shs100 million mobilised through reallocations from the Health ministry is the only funding being used in the affected districts of Kitgum, Lamwo and Pader, where the nodding disease has affected 3,000 children and killed 200.
The ministry requested for the emergency funding from Finance ministry nearly a month ago. Health Ministry Communications Officer Rukia Nakamatte yesterday said the Shs100 million has already been spent on setting up nodding disease care centres in Kitgum, Pader and Lamwo districts, and part of it will be used to train health workers in handling symptoms of the yet-to-be diagnosed ailment.
Not sure
Ms Nakamatte said the ministry is not sure when the remaining money will be delivered since Cabinet has to sit and discuss the request before Parliament can approve it.
“We can’t do much now but wait for the process to be complete,” Ms Nakamatte said, explaining that Cabinet has not yet sat to discuss the Shs7b supplementary budget. “We cannot influence the process but only lobby,” she added.
The ministry last week set up treatment centres for nodding disease patients in the affected districts. Training of health workers was expected to start yesterday but Ms Nakamatte said the training, which is supposed to take about three to four days, had not taken off.
The delay in training health workers to handle the nodding symptoms and unavailable money, could only mean more suffering for the children and parents, most of whom are struggling to keep their children alive.
When asked about possible health implications that could result from delay in delivering the required money, part of which is needed for drugs to control nodding symptoms, Dr James Makumbi, the commissioner in the Ministry of Health, said he will give details today.
Children affected by nodding disease suffer from physical and mental retardation, seizures, nodding, running saliva and often get malnourished since food stirs bouts of nodding.
