MPs express concern over charges imposed on patients in Mulago – 93.3 KFM

Members of Parliament (MPs) in Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee have criticized the charges imposed on patients at the Mulago Women’s and Neonatal Specialist Hospital, arguing that the center is collecting only Sh7 billion in revenue annually, compared to about Sh31 billion annual budget the center receives from the Government.

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

Committee chairman Muwanga Kivumbi asked hospital administrators to provide a breakdown of the costs charged to patients, questioning whether the revenue collected is worth it for the facility to continue charging Ugandans.

According to hospital administrators, women who have a normal birth with the Gold card are charged Sh1 million, while normal birth with the Platinum card costs Sh2.5 million, Caesarean section with the Silver card costs 1.3 million shillings, while gold card holders who undergo C-section are charged 2.5 million shillings,

Patients with gold cards are charged Sh2.5 million, while the Platinum VIP card costs Sh4 million for patients undergoing a caesarean section.

The committee’s chairman, Muwanga Kivumbi, then wondered what would happen if the Government increased the hospital’s budget with the amount of revenue collected and made Ugandans complete the repayment of the loan used to build the hospital, which are 129,220 million acquired from the Islamic Development Bank.

However, the CEO of Mulago Neonatal and Specialist Women’s Hospital, Dr Evelyn Nabunya, said the decision for the center to charge the Ugandans was made by the Cabinet, which also ordered the establishment of an Exemption Committee for deal with cases of Ugandans who cannot pay Fees charged by the Hospital.