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Health ministry seeks Shs29b from coronavirus donations
The Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Dr Diana Atwine, receives the donations from Mr Yutaka Fukase, the JICA representative of Uganda, at the ministry headquarters on Monday. PHOTO | STEPHEN OTAGE
The permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr Diana Atwine, has said the ministry is stuck and unable to buy equipment for Covid-19 activities because the Ministry of Finance has not released the necessary funds yet.
Dr Atwine made the remarks while receiving PPEs from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Kampala on Tuesday.
She said they submitted their request for money to the Finance ministry for consideration but they have not received the money.
“We need to buy cars, ambulances, sensitise the public about preventive measures to reduce the disease burden,” Dr Atwine said.
However, the Ministry of Finance said it was still studying the Health ministry’s request for Shs29 billion cash donations from Ugandans who contributed towards the government’s initiative to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Finance minister Matia Kasaija said he would study whether the Health ministry requires a supplementary budget to fund its current activities so that he can seek parliamentary approval for the release of the money.
“When this money enters the government consolidated account, it is not marked as money for Covid-19, we spend the money in accordance with the budget. If they have the money in their budget, that is not a problem. The problem would be if I do not have the cash,” he said.
Mr Kasaija explained that as an economy operating a cash budget, right now government does not have cash since it depends on revenue collections, borrowing from external sources as well as cash collections from various government sources.
“If there is need for a supplementary budget, I have to get parliamentary approval and I start looking around where to find the cash,” Mr Kasaija said.
Asked when they hope to get Parliament approval since the House is currently in recess, Mr Kasaija said they have agreed with the Speaker of Parliament to have two sittings before MPs go for campaigns.
Dr Atwine said besides the costs of acquiring PPEs, the ministry is finding challenges in distributing them to different hospitals because the ministry does not have vehicles.
Asked the total amount of money they need, Dr Atwine said she could not readily remember but added that they need money for infrastructure in every sub-county health centre III, renovation of hospitals and payment of allowances for health workers.
Yesterday, JICA made its third contribution of PPEs to the Health ministry. The agency donated hand sanisters, head gear, medical goggles, shoe covers, medical gloves and face shields.
Mr Fukase Yutaka, the chief representative JICA office in Uganda, said the donation was to help the country prepare for the fourth stage of the Covid-19 pandemic.
