By Ritah Kemigisa
Mulago National Referral Hospital has vowed to crack a whip on private agents and it’s own health workers who are diverting patients to private health facilities.
The hospital director Dr Baterena Byarugaba says preliminary investigations show that the practice is majorly carried out by agents from the car parking lots while some health workers divert unsuspecting patients to clinics and pharmacies neighboring Mulago hospital.
Baterena has appealed to the ministry of health to urgently attend to this issue warning that the lives of many people are at stake.
He gives a recent example of a child who was diverted from the hospital to a nearby clinic and was mis-operated with a case now in court.
The health minister in charge of general duties Robinah Nabbanja who carries out routine checks at the hospital every Thursday has condemned the act further pledging to follow up on the matter.
Every Thursday, Nabbanja and other health officials visit Mulago hospital to find ways of improving service delivery and also fighting corruption.
In 2019 the president directed the closure of private pharmacies in public health facilities arguing that they were prescribing the sale of their own drugs instead of government drugs.
