Lango health workers on the spot over extorting patients

Residents of Lango Sub-region have accused medical workers at government health facilities of extorting money from them.
Services at government health facilities across the country are supposed to be free.
Lango Sub-region comprises nine districts: Lira, Kole, Kwania, Apac, Oyam, Dokolo, Amolatar, Alebtong, and Otuke.

Kwania 
Vicky Alum, a resident of Abongomola Sub-county in Kwania District, says a health worker at Aduku Health Centre IV demanded for 10,000 to give her a tuberculosis drug for her sick mother.
“When I went to the hospital, he (suspect) told me that the TB drugs are out of stock and asked for money so that he could buy from a private clinic. I reported the matter to one of the hospital staff.  He was later arrested and handed over to police,” Ms Alum says.
Police, however, say the case was dropped because of lack of evidence.

Lira
In Lira District, residents have accused medical workers at Amach Health Centre IV of demanding between Shs150,000 and Shs250,000 to attend to them.
Ms Esther Aguti, resident, says when she took her 20-year-old son for a minor surgery at Amach Health Centre IV, she was asked to pay Shs250,000.
“Since my son was in pain and I did not have any other option, I went back home and sold the only bull I had to raise some cash for his treatmeant,” she says.
  
Mr Jaspher Okori, a resident of Amach Town Council, says he was asked to pay Shs150,000 for his operation. 
“I sold two goats at Shs150,000, which I gave to the medical officer before he conducted the surgery,” he says.
Ms Robina Lea Ajok, a complainant, says she paid Shs5,000 for her tooth to be removed at Amach Health Centre IV.
However, the officer-in-charge of Amach Health Centre, Dr Isaac Orech, says no formal complaints has been lodged at his office.

Mr Freddie Okwee Abadyang, the mayor of Amach Town Council, says: “There is no smoke without fire. It’s true that some patients have been encountering challenges in accessing health services.”
The Lira Resident City Commissioner, Mr Lawrence Egole,  advises health workers to be ethical.
“We need to sacrifice, we must work for our people and save lives,” he says.

Apac 
In Apac District, locals express similar discontent, saying they have fallen pray to money-hungry medical workers at government health facilities.
 Mr Tom Superman Opwonya, the executive director of the Apac Anti-Corruption Coalition, an NGO, says he was approached by a 78-year-old retired prison officer, whose daughter-in-law was reportedly detained at Apac Hospital for failure to pay Shs30,000 to nurses who helped her deliver.
Mr Opwonya says he telephoned the Apac Hospital administrator about the accusation.
“He (the hospital administrator) told me he was going to take action. And indeed, the lady was released from Apac Hospital without paying the money,” Mr Opwonya adds.

Health workers cautioned
He says the retired prisons officer also told him that the husband of a woman who delivered through C-Section was forced to pay Shs200,000.
Mr Opwonya cautions health workers against corruption, saying: “Extortion of money from the sick is unacceptable.”
 He adds that his organisation is considering working with residents and local leaders to set traps for health workers involved in the vice.  “You want me to give you the money, let us agree that we are going to set a trap for the health workers,” Mr Opwonya adds. 
 
However, the Apac Hospital Administrator, Mr Joseph Onuk, says no formal complaint has reached his desk.
“We have not registered such complaints. If such a thing happens, maybe it happens at night,” he says.
Mr Emmy Ngabirano, the Apac Resident District Commissioner, says they are investigating allegations of health workers forcing patients to pay for services that are supposed to be free.
“We have recently changed the top management [of the hospital]. I am still monitoring. Definitely it’s criminal and it defeats the logic,” he says.

According to Mr Opwonya, the vice is widespread in nearly all government health centres in  the sub-region.
“If leaders could go and ask secretly, they would find that almost every woman who is delivered through C-Section, or all those who get services, they pay money,” he adds.
In a mini-survey carried out by this newspaper in selected health centres in Lango,  Acholi and West Nile sub-regions in 2019 established that the health situation was pathetic.