How Shs10,000 landed Mulago worker in trouble
Patients wait at the reception at Kiruddu Hospital in Makindye, Kampala, recently. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
KAMPALA- On Monday morning, I went to Kiruddu Hospital in Munyonyo, Makindye Division, currently home to patients shifted from Mulago to pave way for renovations.
After being examined and assessed by a physician, following a complaint about a persistent sore throat, she recommended that I go for an X-ray procedure on level two of the hospital complex.
Upon reaching the X-ray reception, I handed in my request form and a nurse told me to pay Shs1,000 for the envelope and wait to be called.
After about an hour of waiting, I went back to the nurse and asked how long it takes to have my image taken but she told me to be patient and wait for the doctor to call me. After another hour of waiting, the radiologist called me into the x-ray room, took my images and asked me to pay Shs20,000 for the service but at the time, I had only Shs18,000 in my pocket which I paid.
As I tried to explain my incapacity to raise the Shs20,000, Mr John Omaitum, a name inscribed on his laboratory coat, told me that it was okay, I could go back to the waiting room. But as I waited for the images, I kept wondering why a health worker can ask for money and doesn’t issue a receipt.
Ms Cissy Mwesigwa, another patient also waiting for her x-ray images told me that Mr Omaitum had asked for Shs20,000.
“I have just come back from borrowing money from a friend who stays near the hospital because I did not have it,” said Ms Mwesigwa.
Upon listening to her account similar to three other patients, as a journalist, I went to the administration, specifically to the public relations office to inquire about the cost of x-ray services at the hospital.
Mr Nelson Obote, the PRO at Kiruddu, then told me that the cost at Mulago for an x-ray is Shs10,000, payable to a cashier who must issue a receipt. He quickly asked to see the health worker, whom he ordered to immediately refund my Shs18,000. Mr Omaitum did as instructed and quickly apologised for surcharging money from me and other patients.
Mr Obote told Daily Monitor in an interview on Tuesday that Mr Omaitum will face disciplinary action for charging Shs20,000 from patients to undergo an x-ray imaging procedure against the official Shs10,000.
“On behalf of the hospital, I apologise for the occurrence. This is an isolated case and does not represent what we do but we are going to handle this case as management,” Mr Obote said. He added that most laboratory and diagnostic services offered at Mulago hospital are free of charge and those that are paid for have a clear billing system.
“We have an accounts section which takes care of private in-patients and insurance organisations,” Mr Obote said, adding that they a have cashier at the third floor of the building.
