{UAH} Is Uganda's mess in the Hospitals solely caused by the Politicians?
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12:59 PM |
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UAH forum,
Mulago hospital is apparently the ONLY National Referral hospital in Uganda. It's the BIGGEST Hospital in Uganda. And it has or is supposed to have many Unique Capabilities that no other hospital in Uganda has. For example it has the biggest Cancer Institute, it has the ONLY Heart Institute in the country among several other medical health facilities that can not be found anywhere else in the country like the Renal unit.
A couple of years back, Mulago Hospital administration through its Cancer wing reached out to Govt for help to acquire a scanning machine. Eventually, 2 Billion Shs (approx USD 800,000) was released to purchase it. Eventually it was purchased. Recently, information was unearthed that the actual purchase price was half the purported cost. After a few months of functioning, the allegedly second hand machine which was bought failed and it has been out of order for months now. Patients are facing the brunt of this effect as a result of diagnosis challenges. Here comes my question: Is Uganda's mess in the Hospitals solely caused by the Politicians?
The answer is 'yes'.It is still governments' issue:
1. Cancer institute was made semi-autonomous and you cannot refer to it as a unit of Mulago - the breakaway was political. Someone must have been oiled
2. Government should concentrate on 'building a system' from the bottom-up, not on reactionary measures
3. If it was Rwanda, government would have procured directly from a vendor
4. All procurements in public institutions are sanctioned by the PPDA, a government body. Adverts are run through it
5. There is a very big difference between the managers of hospitals and the actual doctors who work in them. The managers are politicians too
6. All tertiary level hospitals are under the Ministry of Health and all such procurements are cleared by the Permanent Secretary - all permanent secretaries are politicians posing as technocrats.That is the system that government has built - no checks and balances.
Mulago is a government facility largely financed by government. It's also "run" by government because the administration of Mulago is appointed by government.Government is run by the executive headed by the Head of State, the Ugandan President.
In between there are many layers of bureaucrats including civil servants and a complex matrix of administrative structures. If you follow those you will get confused and it will be easy to a portion blame to everybody literally meaning no body.
To me the responsibility of Mulago considering it's importance and uniqueness falls squarely on the executive. And for that matter the Head of State.Procurement processes are controlled by policy instruments and politicians, not the average doctors who do the donkey work.
He's the only one (and this is his own making) who can wake up in the morning and bark at the layers of bureaucrats responsible for this national treasure for it to get any semblance of attention.
He has done it with KCCA with some quick visible results. Mulago should be a cup of tea for him. As in he can even push through special legislation that puts Mulago outside the hands of the bureaucrats and politicians to get direct funding and support from central government.
I believe the Doctors, nurses etc in the cancer institute should be spared from any form of rebuke, more so if they are not pertinent to purchase decisions.All this corruption (buying 2nd hand equipment at half the quoted price) is just a symptom of the fact that the NRM killed all institutions!
--
"War is nothing but a continuation of political intercourse, with a mixture of other means. Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."
-- Mulago hospital is apparently the ONLY National Referral hospital in Uganda. It's the BIGGEST Hospital in Uganda. And it has or is supposed to have many Unique Capabilities that no other hospital in Uganda has. For example it has the biggest Cancer Institute, it has the ONLY Heart Institute in the country among several other medical health facilities that can not be found anywhere else in the country like the Renal unit.
A couple of years back, Mulago Hospital administration through its Cancer wing reached out to Govt for help to acquire a scanning machine. Eventually, 2 Billion Shs (approx USD 800,000) was released to purchase it. Eventually it was purchased. Recently, information was unearthed that the actual purchase price was half the purported cost. After a few months of functioning, the allegedly second hand machine which was bought failed and it has been out of order for months now. Patients are facing the brunt of this effect as a result of diagnosis challenges. Here comes my question: Is Uganda's mess in the Hospitals solely caused by the Politicians?
The answer is 'yes'.It is still governments' issue:
1. Cancer institute was made semi-autonomous and you cannot refer to it as a unit of Mulago - the breakaway was political. Someone must have been oiled
2. Government should concentrate on 'building a system' from the bottom-up, not on reactionary measures
3. If it was Rwanda, government would have procured directly from a vendor
4. All procurements in public institutions are sanctioned by the PPDA, a government body. Adverts are run through it
5. There is a very big difference between the managers of hospitals and the actual doctors who work in them. The managers are politicians too
6. All tertiary level hospitals are under the Ministry of Health and all such procurements are cleared by the Permanent Secretary - all permanent secretaries are politicians posing as technocrats.That is the system that government has built - no checks and balances.
Mulago is a government facility largely financed by government. It's also "run" by government because the administration of Mulago is appointed by government.Government is run by the executive headed by the Head of State, the Ugandan President.
In between there are many layers of bureaucrats including civil servants and a complex matrix of administrative structures. If you follow those you will get confused and it will be easy to a portion blame to everybody literally meaning no body.
To me the responsibility of Mulago considering it's importance and uniqueness falls squarely on the executive. And for that matter the Head of State.Procurement processes are controlled by policy instruments and politicians, not the average doctors who do the donkey work.
He's the only one (and this is his own making) who can wake up in the morning and bark at the layers of bureaucrats responsible for this national treasure for it to get any semblance of attention.
He has done it with KCCA with some quick visible results. Mulago should be a cup of tea for him. As in he can even push through special legislation that puts Mulago outside the hands of the bureaucrats and politicians to get direct funding and support from central government.
I believe the Doctors, nurses etc in the cancer institute should be spared from any form of rebuke, more so if they are not pertinent to purchase decisions.All this corruption (buying 2nd hand equipment at half the quoted price) is just a symptom of the fact that the NRM killed all institutions!
--
"War is nothing but a continuation of political intercourse, with a mixture of other means. Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."
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