The facility has been out of drugs close to 5 months and patients are complaining of bribes
Hundreds of patients are stranded without medicine at Kisoro district hospital after the facility ran out of drugs.
What is so peculiar is that the facility has not received any drug supply for now about five months.
A source at the Hospital said they do not have anything to use; call it groves, cotton, needles or syringes etc and that patients are advised to buy these items outside the hospital to be attended to.
A source also said that some medical staff especially in the antinetal Unit are being accused of soliciting bribes to a tune of sh. 150,000 to carry out cesarean section for expectant mothers who have difficulty and cannot deliver normally.
The Kisoro hospital medical superintendent Dr. Emmanuel Bahane said he is following up to make sure that National Medical Stores (NMS) makes delivery of drugs and necessary hospital supplies to them as soon as possible.
“I am calling the NMS contact they have been promising to deliver drugs but up to now we have not received any consignments.
I am not sure if they (NMS) are deceiving me or they want to supply us with drugs or not and truth is we are seriously having a crisis at the hospital” Dr Bahane said in a telephone interview this morning.
Dr Bahane said on average they carry out 150 surgical cases and 90 cesarean sections and that it is difficulty to make the operations without drugs.
Commenting on the issue of bribes being demanded by some of his staff he said they have put measures to stop the vice and have deployed security people who are doing intelligence on the matter and that he has also displayed his numbers on public noticeboards so that affected patients can report to him directly.
Our reporter tried in vain to reach NMS and the ministry of health and Minister Sarah Mateke who is also the Woman MP for Kisoro district. Sarah kept pressing the busy button on her mobile phone. However, our reporter managed to talk to Dr, Philemon Mateke the former regional cooperation minister and a top district NRM boss who said he was investigating the matter of drug shortage at Kisoro Hospital.
“If you know the truth please report it, and also talk or visit NMS to find out why they have not supplied Kisoro Hospital with drugs” he said.
A source at the district said before the shortage that the allocation of drugs to Kisoro is the same with hospitals in its status but that due to refugees who come from DR Congo and being that it serves people who may come from the Rwanda and DR Congo borders, they need to be considered to be given more drugs to fill those gaps.
This is not the first time the Hospital has suffered drug shortage in the last years they have been missing drugs also for some time.
Mean the locals of Kisoro who have been voting the ruling NRM party which is in government with 100 percent voters have threatened to voter the opposition party.
“President Museveni and NRM cannot pay us without supplying with drugs yet we vote NRM 100 percent, this time we shall vote the opposition” Byamungu said.
Several women and children are stuck at the hospital since they have no money to buy items needed to be used to treat them.
“Now what does the government want us to do, we have no money and yet we need treatment, we need urgent help” one Verah said.
