Private hospitals suspend immunisation services

Aug 01, 2017

Though vaccines are supplied by govt for free, some health facilities have been charging a fee

Over 100 private hospitals and clinics in the country have suspended childhood immunisation services, against the six killer diseases thus leaving mothers and their new born babies at risk.

The vaccines suspended include; Polio, pneumonia, measles, tetanus, Tuberculosis and Diphtheria vaccines.

Completing the immunisation schedule helps a child to get adequate protection from all the immunisable diseases. Children who are immunized are always able to finish their education and become productive citizens. A child should be immunized at birth, six weeks, 10 weeks, 14 weeks and nine months.

This means that any disturbances in immunisation schedules of the killer diseases may turnout harmful to new-born babies.

Though the vaccines are supplied by the Government of Uganda to health facilities for free, some have been charging a fee between sh1000 to 10,000. A month ago, the Ministry of Health wrote to the private hospitals through their association stopping them from charging the public any fees since the vaccines are supplied free of charge.

The directive was not received well so most private hospitals decided to stop the services.

"The Ministry Of Health issued a directive that all health facilities offering immunisation should stop charging people because the vaccines they administer are free of charge so there is no need to charge parents, however this was not welcomes because these hospitals incur some costs while administering these vaccines," said Dr Dennis Kimalyo, the executive director of Uganda National Association of Private Hospitals (UNAPH)

Kimalyo notes that most people always go to private hospitals because the quality of their services so they always charge the money for transporting the vaccines, paying power for the refrigerators where the vaccines are kept and also to pay staff members who administer the vaccines.

He did not mention any of the hospitals that have stopped the services.

"We are still compiling the list so we cannot name the hospitals yet but the number keeps on increasing every day," he said.

"It would be okay to administer the vaccines but we have costs. So our clinics cannot just give them out freely. We are calling upon the Ministry to come up with a minimal fee we can charge or as a Ministry they should give us a fee every month so that we can be able to offer the services, otherwise, if it is for free, the service is still suspended," he said.

Due to lack of verified, up-to-date data, a report released last year ahead of the ministerial conference on immunisation in Africa, ranked Uganda's routine immunisation coverage as among the lowest in the East African region.

During the conference, the Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, said the immunisation coverage survey was last done in 2006 and since then Uganda has not carried out another survey.

She said that the Ministry had applied for funding to conduct the immunisation coverage survey whose results would accurately reflect the actual performance in routine immunisation but up to now no survey has ever been carried out.

Ministry responds

The Minister of State for General Duties in the Health Ministry, Sarah Opendi said it is unfortunate that private hospitals have decided to take this course of action.

"We got to know that private hospitals were charging the public a fee of sh20,000 to 30,000 yet we give them the vaccines for free. We stopped them because it is unacceptable. But it is sad that they have decided to stop the services; it is dangerous. We are going to sit down with them and see a way forward," said Opendi.

She noted that they are going to have a discussion with the hospitals and come up with a reasonable fee but not more than sh5000 like most clinics in town have been charging.

"The entire country is affected because private hospitals are everywhere and these centres are motivated by money so we have to talk to them as soon as possible to save our babies lives," she said.

"If the Government wants us to continue administering the vaccine, they should give us refrigerators and transport. We always save the situation when there is a vaccine stock out in government facilities," said Dr Peter Kyazze, a physician at Nyango Medical Centre in Kyanja.

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