Africa-Press – Uganda. Social media has in recent times been awash with reports that many a private hospital have taken to inflating medical bills and charging extra money for oxygen amid the recent spike in cases of Covid-19 infections.
Information in the public domain indicates that some of these facilities are asking for down payments of sums ranging between Shs5 million and Shs20 million before providing service to especially those suspected to have contracted the deadly coronavirus.
Whereas we know that these are private for profit institutions, such demands can only mean that they have forgotten all about their social responsibility and opted to prioritise profit ahead of life, which is unacceptable.Yet this is only the latest development. Private hospitals in the country have been generally known to charge both an arm and a leg for treatment.
A comparison of prices of drugs at the pharmacies and what some of these hospitals charge for the same drugs point at robbery of mega proportions.
It is also common knowledge that some of them will not treat unless they have been paid.At the end of May, staff at Mengo Hospital declined to carry out an emergency operation on a Monitor journalist, Mr James Bugembe Ssenkubuge, insisting on a down payment of Shs2 million.
The journalist was wheeled into the theatre eight hours after his admission. That he later passed on came as no surprise.
Such conduct points to professional negligence and contravention of the Hippocratic Oath, which ordinarily puts human life and ethical conduct above money and profits.The same institutions have also been known to detain patients who fail to clear outstanding bills.
All this begs a question. Is such conduct human? Are these operating in a state of anarchy? Are there no laws or regulations that could help rein them in? It is high time that we woke up to the consciences of the managers and proprietors of these institutions.
Hours after the Electoral Commission declare him winner of the January 14 presidential elections, Mr Museveni in an address from his country home in Rwakitura declared that the NRM will in his 6th term focus on the mass line, where political actors act only in the interest of the people.
There is no better way of showing commitment to the pursuit of that which interests the people than by providing leadership in curbing the excesses of private medical facilities, which are seeking to make mega bucks out the misfortunes of others. Over to you Mr President.
