MPs express Concern over Charges imposed on patients at Mulago

Member of Parliament (MPs) on Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee have criticized charges imposed on patients at Mulago Specialized Women and Neonatal Hospital, arguing that the facility is collecting only Shs 7Bn in revenue annually, compared to around Shs 31Bn annual budget the facility receives from the Government.

The Public Accounts Committee is scrutinizing the December 2023 Auditor General’s reports.

Committee chairperson Muwanga Kivumbi asked the Hospital administrators to provide the breakdown of costs charged on patients, and wondered if the revenue collected is worth having the facility continue charging Ugandans.

According to the hospital Administrators, women who have normal delivery on the Gold card are charged Shs1M, while normal delivery under Platinum is Shs2.5M, the C-Section under silver is Shs1.3M, while holders of the gold card that undergo C-section are charged Shs2.5M,

Patients on gold cards are charged Shs2.5M, while the VIP platinum costs Shs4M for patients who have C-section.

The committee chairperson Muwanga Kivumbi then wondered what would happen if Government instead boosted the Hospital’s budget by the amount of revenue collections and have Ugandans complete the payment of the loan used to build the hospital, which is 129.220Bn acquired from the Islamic Development Bank.

However, Executive Director at Mulago Specialized Women and Neonatal Hospital Dr. Evelyn Nabunya said the decision for the facility to charge Ugandans was taken by Cabinet, which also ordered for the establishment of a Waiver Committee to deal with cases of Ugandans who can’t afford rates charged by the Hospital.

Written by Barbra Anyait