Govt lobbies World Bank over stalled hospital works

By Alfred Wandera

Negotiations between the Government and World Bank are in high gear to have the withheld $90m (about sh265.5b) released for the stalled renovation of hospitals across the country.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Asuman Lukwago, in an interview with New Vision said renovation of about 10 hospitals stalled last year after World Bank withheld the funding following the enactment of the controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill in 2013.

"The money was meant for the renovation of about 10 hospitals across the country under the second phase of Uganda Health Systems Strengthening project (UHSSP) that is meant to revamp the country's health care system," said Lukwago.

"World Bank withheld the money because they feared that Ugandan authorities would segregate the minority community from accessing health care from the reconstructed hospitals. The World Bank's policy is to ensure that health care is provided to all people with disregard to their sexual orientation," added Lukwago.

(L-R) East, Central and South African (ECSA) Health Community  Secretariat Yoswa M Dambisya, Minister of Health from Mauritius Anil Kumari Singh Gayan, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda and Acting Health Minister Elioda Tumwesigye during a press briefing at the 60th Health Ministers Conference and the 40th ECSA Anniversary at Speke Resort Munyonyo on February 16, 2015. Photo/Tony Rujuta.

He was speaking at the opening of the ongoing East, Central and Southern Africa (ECSA) Health Community conference at Commonwealth Resort Munyonyo.

ECSA is a conference Health ministers from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland.

It holds annual meetings where ministers from member nations reflect on the health performance in the region in order to draw lessons that inform their current and future practices. The Kampala conference that ended on Tuesday also marked the 40th anniversary of ECSA since it was established in 1974.

UHSSP is meant to fund the renovation of selected health facilities to ensure basic functionality of the facilities and scaling up services for maternal care.

Among the hospitals that had been lined up to benefit from the withheld funding are Kitagata, Itojo, Bugiri, Atutur, Abim, Kitgum, Apac and Masindi.

However, Lukwago added that the reconstruction of hospitals funded under the first phase of UHSSP including Kiryandongo, Mityana, Entebbe, Moyo, Moroto, Nakaseke, Iganga and Nebbi were not affected by World Bank's sanction.

The 60th conference was held under the theme "ECSA Health Community at 40: Strengthening Regional Cooperation for better Health Outcomes".

The conference also deliberated on universal health coverage, innovations in the development of human resources for health, MDGs lessons for post 2015 agenda, control of communicable diseases and prevention and management of Non-Communicable diseases.