Uganda MPs urged to prioritise ambulances in 2026/7 budget

KAMPALA - Key stakeholders in the health sector have urged lawmakers to factor the purchase of more ambulance units and adequate fuel funding into the 2026/7 Financial Year budget.

Peter Mbabazi, the board chairperson of the Malaria Youth Champions Uganda (MYCU), made this call on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.

This was during a high-level engagement with the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Malaria.

The meeting, which took place in Parliament’s Conference Hall A, was anchored on Gender Responsive Malaria and Health Services.

Mbabazi was also representing the Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health (MOH) Dr. Daniel Kyabayinze, Dr. Catherine Maiteki Sebuguzi and all team leaders of the National Malaria Elimination Division, who were meant to be present.

Uganda is among the world’s high-burden malaria countries.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics, the country lost between 70,000 and 100,000 lives to malaria in 2023 alone, with $500 million lost annually in treatment expenses, productivity and strain on the healthcare system.

Speaking on Tuesday, Mbabazi said this was imperative to curtail delays that play a part in many of these deaths.  

“For some time now, ambulances have only been a preserve for pregnant women, and until recently, we have had to change, and malaria has also come as part of the emergency services. Our aim is to eliminate death as a result of malaria.

Nobody should die of malaria. Because it is preventable and curable. Why are our people still dying of malaria today? Because of the time lag. From the time the episode starts to the time they get the treatment. Every minute counts,” he said.

“Thank you very much, commended legislators who have bought ambulances," he reminded them of the need to equip and fuel them.

"Just three weeks ago, I was in Namayingo, and I went on a boat to the islands. It is so depressing. They have a water ambulance, and that water ambulance consumes 300 litres to go to the mainland. What they get is only enough to take two routes, and they park,” Mbabazi illustrated.

"Just three weeks ago, I was in Namayingo, and I went on a boat to the islands. It is so depressing. They have a water ambulance, and that water ambulance consumes 300 litres to go to the mainland. What they get is only enough to take two routes, and they park,” Mbabazi illustrated. (Credit: Dedan Kimathi)

MPs respond

However, given the 2024/25 fiscal year's budget debacle, where the President was compelled to return the budget to Parliament due to questionable adjustments, amounting to sh750 billion, which Kasilo County MP Elijah Okupa has previously stated had been reallocated to items like ambulances, tractors and health centres, many MPs present were quick to question Government’s commitment.

“I know the Abuja declaration talked about allocating fifteen percent of our national budget to the health sector. That was close to thirty years ago. That has not been achieved to date. So, what makes you think that the Government can allocate money only for malaria?” West Budama South MP Emmanuel Otaala posed.

“We, the politicians, have done a lot; we have sacrificed our own personal resources. But when MPs buy ambulances and donate them to the district health office, we find that you have not even budgeted for the fuel to run the ambulances. That’s where my concern is that the people of Uganda have lost hope in the public health care system because of the leadership in the Ministry of Health,” he observed.

Even after the donation, Richard Oriebo Oseku (Kibale County, NRM) revealed that they must still shoulder the cost of fueling the ambulances. A cost, he said, they occasionally pass on to the voters when their pockets go dry.

Bugabula South MP Maurice Kibalya (NRM) urged the Health Ministry to apply the same determination it used to contain monkeypox to eliminating malaria, arguing that they also need reprieve.