Sr Immaculate Akello, the hospital’s senior nursing officer, checks on a child during her rounds in the children’s ward. On another note, people in Katakwi have slammed health workers citing that they ask for bribes before attending to them (FILE PHOTO)
KATAKWI – As Uganda celebrates anti-corruption week, residents in Katakwi have pinned government hospital workers of extorting money from them.
This was raised during the fifth Anti-Corruption Caravan organized by Action Aid and the office of the Inspector General of Government (IGG).
The locals and the IGG office accuse health workers at the Katakwi general facility for soliciting bribes from patients who come for treatment and other medical services.
The Anti-corruption caravan was held in the districts of Serere, Kumi, Bukedea, Soroti and Katakwi.
The caravan, themed Citizen’s Action against Corruption, focused on mobilising citizens for collective anti-corruption action by raising public awareness of the dangers of corruption to service delivery.
Patients also said they are forced to pay money without a receipt before receiving services.
Patients also claimed that they are charged from Shs 5000 and above by the medical workers before attending to them.
The Katakwi District vice Chairperson Mary Gorrety Auma affirmed that the district leadership has reliable information pinning health workers at the facility to be extorting money from patients before providing services of drip, a scanning machine, accessing beds and mortuary.
According to Auma, it is a pity that the medical workers are extorting money from the patients yet they are duly paid by government.
She told the people that they have already held a meeting with hospital leadership to see how this vice can be curbed down.
The hospital Senior Administrator, Peter Ocom Olak acknowledged that hospital administration is aware of the vice and investigations into the matter are ongoing.
Ocom urged members of the public to always report such cases to Hospital administrators so that necessary action is taken, adding that no one is supposed to pay for any treatment unless it is in the private wing.
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