Mulago National Referral Hospital Stings Ministers & MPs For Failing Private Wing
The Mulago National Referral Hospital Director Dr, Byarugaba Baterana has stung ministers and members of parliament for failing the hospital’s private wing, by using their influence to access private services at free cost.
Dr ,Byarugaba was before the parliamentary committee of health where he also revealed that increasing salaries of medical workers will not improve service delivery if they are not prohibited from working in private health units.
While appearing before the parliamentary committee on health today, the Executive director of Mulago National Referral hospital Byarugaba Baterana took a swipe against MPs and castigated them for failing Mulago private wing, saying many of them don’t want to pay whenever they take their patients there.
Dr,Baterana noted that politicians use their authority to get waivers and access private services at free cost.
Baterana stunned the committee of health when he asked them to explain how Mulago will raise Non tax revenue when MPs and Ministers don’t want to pay for private services.
Dr,Baterana justified the proposed budget estimates of 69.2bn shillings for the financial year 2022/2023, with 29.5bn for wages, 31.7 for non-Wage, and 7.9bn budgeted for development. However, Baterana told the committee of health point blank that increasing salaries of medical workers without a law to restrict them from working in private health units is a total waste of time which can’t improve service delivery.
He also faulted the Health Service Commission for denying Mulago Hospital jobs to specialized medical workers trained by Mulago by recruiting inexperienced and untrained medics. Baterana wondered when the health service commission doesn’t consult the hospital management in recruitment of worker’s workers.
The committee however put Byarugaba to task to explain the fate of private pharmacies in the premises of Mulago hospital yet president Yoweri Museveni gave a directive in 2019 directing all private pharmacies to leave government hospital premises.
Mulago Hospital has been allocated 69.2bn in the next financial year against 153.2bn shillings which the hospital needs to get fully operational.
