With hospitals across the country filling with COVID-19 patients given an aggressive surge in cases, the two biggest issues have turned out to be shortage of cylinders and shortage of oxygen.
Government has tried to address the issue of oxygen by reviving oxygen generating plants at all referral hospitals however there’s a shortage of cylinders to go around, meaning the oxygen plants have to ship the ones they have back and forth to be refilled, and that doesn’t happen quickly as many individuals are holding cylinders in their homes.
This website made a quick survey yesterday around the different private facilities in Kampala. We found out that currently the lowest price you can get an empty cylinder is Shs1.2 million.
One of our contacts whose name has been withheld explained that Private hospitals foot all their experiences from purchasing medical supplies to paying different taxes hence reason for the high charges.
Meanwhile Uganda has the capacity to fill 3,000 oxygen cylinders per day. But with the current rate of COVID hospitalizations, many have resorted to ‘stocking’ cylinders for their families hence creating scarcity.
The State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU), headed by Col. Edith Nakalema, recently came out to intervene in the public outcry against the exorbitant charges by private health facilities for COVID-19 patients.
“There are many Ugandans who are dying in their homes simply because they fear to face high deposit hospital fees. This is unacceptable! We appealed to the medical Authorities to heed the loud public outcry about exorbitant hospital fees,” said Nakalema.
She yesterday held a meeting with officials from the ministry of health and private hospitals owners to discuss the fate of high charges of treating COVID19 patients. No official communication has been made on what was agreed upon.