TORORO – Sukuru sub-county LC3 chairperson in Tororo district Mr. John Paul Okanya has suggested to Parliament to consider drafting a law that subjects health workers who steal drugs from government health facilities to be hanged.
He says the current anti-corruption laws seem to be soft to the corrupt and it is the reason why graft still exists in government health facilities because it is not biting those involved.
Mr. Okanya made his observation last Friday while presiding over the commissioning of a multi-million in-patient ward at St. John’s Kayoro health Centre II that had been constructed by the community Give Us Wings Uganda a local NGO providing support to vulnerable communities in partnership with Christians from St. John’s Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
He said unlike in government health facilities where siphoning of drugs is treated as a normal practice, its hard to get staff in community health facilities have been mismanaged yet people serving are all Ugandans.
‘’A person who steals drugs from the hospital is more like a rebel and such individuals should be treated with an iron hand because they are the causes of rampant deaths in communities yet the law is silent about them’’ Mr. Okanya said.
He thanked the transparency that development partners are exhibiting at the course of rendering services to the people which he said should be extended to government facilities.
Okanya applauded the donor community for extending a helping hand especially to Kayoro community that had initially limited access to healthcare more so the introduction of community health insurance scheme.
According to the Africa programs director Give Us Wings Uganda Mrs. Sarah Muzaki, the facility is intended addressing the challenge of accessing health services within the community of Kayoro that she said had contributed to the loss of life.
She disclosed that the commissioned health infrastructure will empower the facility to commence offering health services 24 hours and appealed to government to consider elevating the facility to health
centre III now that it has put facilities that a health center III requires especially the maternity wing.
She emphasized that Give Us Wings Uganda is a local non-profit organization whose cardinal objective centers at seeking to improve the socio-economic wellbeing of vulnerable and orphaned children,
families and the whole community through primary health care and other community development initiatives.
She said under the partnership with the community, the organization has championed initiation of community health insurance scheme that has helped to educate the community on the relevancy of saving for their health other than saving for Christmas meat and household items.
‘’The established additional infrastructure will form the basis for health care and community development services for approximately 182,000 people in an area devoid of any formal health care
facilities’’ said Mrs. Muzaki
She announced a continuous commitment to support the community to ensure that the organization provides quality access to health care and livelihoods to families.
