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No deal between govt, private hospitals on Covid treatment charges
Nurses attend to a Covid-19 patient in the Intensive Care Unit at Mulago hospital in Kampala recently.PHOTO/PROMISE TWINAMUKYE
Government and private hospitals are yet to reach an agreement to harmonise charges for treatment of Covid-19 patients in private hospitals following numerous meetings between stakeholders.
For the past two months since the second wave hit the country, there has been outcry over the exorbitant daily charges by private hospitals to patients that require critical care. A Daily Monitor survey established that the charges would go as high as Shs5 million per day.
In a meeting convened by Col Edith Nakalema, the head of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit last month, private hospitals had promised to come out with a harmonized position on how much a Covid-19 patient would be required to pay.
In a July 2 update on status of the pandemic, minister for health Dr Jane Ruth Aceng announced the resolutions reached and none addresses the regulation or harmonization of cost.
“The public treatment facilities are full and therefore, patients end up in private facilities. The ministry of health has engaged the owners of the private health facilities and reviews the cost drivers of treatment in order to reduce the costs,” Dr. Aceng.
Among the resolutions is the possibility of government supporting supply of oxygen to the private hospitals.
Whereas this may be expected to reduce the cost, it remains unclear if or when it will be done.
Other resolutions are regular quality assurance audits to be carried out by the Uganda Dental Practitioners Council and the ministry. The facilities have also been cautioned to adhere to the Covid-19 treatment guidelines.
Ms Grace Ssali Kiwanuka, the executive director of Uganda Health Care Federation, the umbrella body for private players in health sector in the country explained that unlike before the pandemic where patients would spend less than five days in the Intensive Care Units, Covid-19 patients go beyond 10 days.
According to Ms Kiwanuka, the medicines and personnel required for care ICUs also drive up the charges.
Some health activities have sued government for the exorbitant charges, questioning why the minister has not evoked her powers to regulate the charges.
