Patients protest CT scan fees at Masaka hospital
Mr David Kasadha, a radiographer at Masaka Regional Referral Hospital, inspects the new CT scan donated to the facility on May 20. PHOTO | RICHARD KYANJO
What you need to know:
- The hospital administrator, Mr Charles Tumushiime, however, said the machine is too expensive to service, which forced them to propose to the hospital board of governors to come up with a sustainable plan of maintaining it.
Health activists and patients have protested charges introduced by Masaka Regional Referral Hospital administration for those seeking Computerised Axial Tomography Scan (CT scan) services at the facility.
Last October, the government donated a CT scan machine to the hospital, the first of its kind at the facility and it became operational last month.
However, to access CT scan services patients are required to pay money.
According to a July 7 circular issued by the hospital management, a patient that requires a scan for the brain plain scan will pay Shs120,000, the brain contrasted scan costs Shs150,000, chest contrasted scan goes for Shs200,000 and the abdominal contrasted scan costs Shs200,000.
But activists and patients say the cost is unaffordable to the ordinary Ugandan, yet the machine is a donation from the government.
Mr Swaibu Makumbi Sulambaya, the chairperson of Southern Region Social Rights Association (SRSRA), said Masaka Regional Referral Hospital serves ordinary Ugandans who cannot afford the new charges set by the administration.
“Services at public hospitals mostly help poor ordinary Ugandans and with such exorbitant charges, such people are going to be left to die in the hospital compound,” he said in an interview on Saturday.
The hospital administrator, Mr Charles Tumushiime, however, said the machine is too expensive to service, which forced them to propose to the hospital board of governors to come up with a sustainable plan of maintaining it.
“There is really no cause for alarm, our patients will be accessing the CT scan services at a subsidised cost based on the Ministry of Health guidelines,” he said.
Mr Tumushiime explained that part of the money collected from patients will also help to cater for electricity bills on top of facilitating specialists that help in interpreting the images sent to them by the referral hospital.
“Our charges for CT Scan services are just half of what private health facilities are charging. So, we got guidance from the Ministry of Health on how much we can charge because as a hospital ,we cannot manage to maintain the machine due to our limited budget, the hospital board also deemed it necessary to have some fees charged to cater for servicing of the CT scan machine,” he added.
Masaka Regional Referral Hospital receives Shs40 million annually for maintenance of machines used at the facility, which according to Mr Tumushiime, is very little compared to the work at hand. The equipment is serviced thrice a year.
Mr Sulambaya, who also doubles as the chairperson of Masaka Hospital Patients Association, advised the hospital administration to devise other ways of raising funds to maintain the machine other than pushing the burden to patients. “We advise the hospital management to report to the line ministry that the funds they get for servicing machines are not enough so that they can get a top up,” he added
Mr Joshua Mukasa, another activist in Masaka, said the spirit of offering free services at public health facilities is slowly fading and patients currently are forced to pay money .
“When you visit Masaka hospital today, you have to pay for dental and X-ray services yet in the past, all services were free. If the government cannot financially support these crucial institutions, let them be privatised,” he said.
