Malaba Health Centre III doesn't qualify for upgrade, says minister

Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng says the government will not grant Tororo District leaders' request to upgrade Malaba Health Centre III to Health Centre IV.

The Minister made the remarks on February 13 during her spot supervision visit to the health facility in Tororo District.

According to her, the purpose of the spot visit was to identify gaps in access to quality services and offer solutions to the government to help improve them.

She said the Ministry would also revoke the ongoing coding of the facility that had been initiated during the process of considering the facility for benefits.

"Having visited this facility, I want to be open to you the leaders that there are no justifications to government upgrading this facility, and making such a move would mean I am mad," she said.

She also questioned the credibility of the biostatisticians noting that they were responsible for providing misleading statistics that led the government to make poor decisions.

Dr Aceng also asked the district leaders to recall some of the staff that had been deployed in waiting for the elevation of the facility to a Health Centre IV.

The Chairperson of the Tororo South County Health Centre Management Committee, Mr Peter Rogers Imailuk, expressed concern that disregarding the request to upgrade the health facility would be a disadvantage to residents of Tororo South County.

He noted that the facility also serves Western Kenya and neighbouring districts.

According to the District LC5 chairperson, Mr John Okeya, the district posted staff to the health facility last year in consideration of Health Centre IV staffing levels.

The minister said the government will also consider recalling the gene machine stationed at Port Malaba which was placed to facilitate Covid-19 testing.

According to her, only three people had been tested at the facility in the last three months, indicating that the equipment is underused and yet other points of entry need it.

In the private wing of Tororo District General Referral Hospital, the team was shocked when the acting medical superintendent, Dr Andrew Opete, failed to explain the expenditures generated by the private wing, which the minister advised to be disbanded because the money appeared to be going into individual pockets.

"If you cannot explain how you spend the resources generated by the facility, why do we continue operating it? It means the money generated goes to individuals' pockets which we cannot tolerate," said the Minister.

Other facilities visited included; Mukuju Health Centre IV, Mulanda Health Centre IV, Nagongera Health Centre IV, abandoned Katajula Health Centre III and St. Anthony Hospital Tororo.