Hospital staff detained over missing ICU equipment

A staff member of Gulu Regional Referral Hospital was arrested at the weekend on the orders of the Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurance and Implementation due to the loss of equipment from the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU). 

Mr Robert Vupale, who is in-charge of the hospital’s stores, was detained after the management failed to explain the whereabouts of the missing ICU equipment.

Mr Abed Bwanika, the committee chairperson, stated: “We made sure Mr Vupale was arrested and has made a statement. We also directed the police that the director of this hospital should make a statement to the police, and then an investigation should follow.”

On Friday last week, the committee visited Gulu Regional Referral Hospital and discovered through interactions with staff and patient attendants that some ICU equipment, supplied by both the government and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), was missing. 

Mr Bwanika expressed concern, noting: “The hospital management and doctors had no answers to where this equipment was; it is very disturbing because these are very expensive items bought using taxpayers’ money and from friendly countries.”

Mr Vupale was handed over to the police for further questioning, as efforts are being made to ensure the equipment is returned immediately. 

The committee visited Gulu District and Gulu City to oversee the performance of health units, including the health equipment supplied to the hospital’s ICU.

Mr Bwanika revealed that the committee found the ICU equipment dismantled without the Ministry of Health’s consent and that some parts were missing. 

“We have found that the ICU equipment was dismantled; some parts are unaccounted for which is very disturbing. Unfortunately, the director is not here because he is the one fully in-charge, but he will make a statement to the police when he returns. We are going to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter,”  Mr Bwanika said. 

It was established that parts of the ICU equipment were given to other departments post-Covid-19. 

Ms Christine Aciro, the officer-in-charge of the ICU unit at the hospital, stated that the hospital received 10 ICU units from the government and donations from JICA.  Currently, only six ICU units are operational, of which four are in use due to space limitations.

But Ms Aciro explained that two ICU units are in the store awaiting repairs. 

“The former senior management decided to support other units with parts of the ICU equipment after the Covid-19 pandemic, including monitors and other components, due to the inadequacy at the hospital,” she said.

However, committee member Joyce Bagala said it was wrong to dismantle ICU equipment without notifying the Ministry of Health. 

“The hospital should have consulted the Ministry of Health for guidance before dismantling the ICU equipment, which is very expensive,” she said.