Wakiso boss protests Shs500m donation to hospital

WAKISO.

Wakiso District chairperson Matia Lwanga Bwanika has protested a plan by the Ministry of Health to give Shs500m to a private hospital in the district to facilitate its expansion yet many public health centres are in a sorry state.

According to Mr Bwanika, the money, which is yet to be wired on the district bank account, should be distributed among various health centres in the district rather than allocating it to one private health facility.

“As you are aware, the public health facilities in the district are in a very sorry state, and this has affected service delivery of the district,” Mr Bwanika said in his July 5 letter addressed to the Ministry of Health permanent secretary, Dr Asuman Lukwago.

“We find it inappropriate to allocate Shs500m from the Ministry of Health under the PHC [Primary Health Care] non-wage to cater for the expansion and rehabilitation of infrastructure on a privately–owned hospital which is not part of our district private-not -for-profit facilities which assist us in realising effective service delivery,” the letter adds.

Mr Bwanika said some of the public health centres in the district were recently closed due to lack of toilets which can be erected using such funds.

He was replying to Dr Lukwago’s June 28 letter directing the Wakiso District chief administrative officer, (CAO) Mr Dustan Mukasa Yiga, to speed up 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.

“You are therefore advised to start on the procurement process early and to ensure value for money in the execution of civil works as required in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA,2015),” Dr Lukwago’s letter reads in part
“This support may not be extended beyond FY 2016/17 as the ministry will be addressing infrastructure challenges in other facilities in the medium term,” the letter adds
However, both the CAO and permanent secretary have not yet replied Mr Bwanika’s letter, but they held a meeting with proprietors of Family Health Care Hospital on July 22 to see how the funds will be utilised.

Mr Bwanika in an interview yesterday called for an investigation by the district council on how such a decision was taken without seeking council approval.
Mr Yiga said the recent meeting where Mr Bwanika was not invited was for only district technical staff, adding that he would be invited to subsequent meetings convened about the same matter.

The donation to Family Health Care Hospital was made by President Museveni while campaigning in the area during the recent presidential campaigns. However, the presidential pledge was of Shs100m not Shs500m.