The ministry of health has on Sunday given the accountability of the covid19 funds received from the government and the donations that were made by different people to support the ongoing fight against the pandemic.
The ministry also noted it requires additional money of shs 171 billion to procure test kits that will help in testing for the covid-19 infection in the country.
The remarks were made by the Permanent Secretary,Dr. Diana Atwine while presenting the accountability of donations received by the ministry since the outbreak of the pandemic.
With 28 USD spent on buying these much needed test kits, Atwine noted that more is still needed.
“The money is not enough and that’s why when you hear these big countries that are wealthy are committing in billions of dollars. But for us we are talking about 28USD and people think is a big thing,’she said.
Atwine explained that of the shs 280 billion from government, the ministry has received cash of shs 119 billion with shs 89 billion pending and shs 4.8 billion was used to buy resources.
“Government of Uganda through supplementary budget and the money advanced to us earlier by ministry of Finance,all together came to shs 119 billion. We are yet to also receive shs 89 billion through supplementary which is yet to be tabled in the parliament,”she said
She said the Minstry is looking at shs 280 billion.
Atwine noted that the ministry has since allocated some money to all the regional referral hospitals and some money were used to procure Personal Protective Equipment(PPEs).
“Each regional referral hospitals received shs 272 million and this money was supposed to be dedicated for the patients care, the feeding and also to help transport patients that are within the areas they serve. Every two weeks we deliver PPEs to the facilities, “she said.
She said that shs 11 billion was used to buy 37 ambulances and shs 6 billion were were spent to purchase oxygen plants.
Although some health workers have been crying of not getting their allowances, Atwine said the ministry has so far used shs 16.4 billion to pay these health workers.
“Allowances constitute a big portion of a budget why? Because every day all our people working in covid19 are entitled to hardship daily allowances.I must say almost 95% of the staff have been paid,”she said.
She said the ministry also used shs 2.3 billion to pay for the accmmodations of all the Ugandans who returned to the country before the lockdown and they were in the institutions of quarantine and isolation.
The minister, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng also warned that Uganda is likely to get to stage four of the pandemic should the population remain complacent of the dangers presented by the virus.
“And everyday, if you look at the report of cases ,you will see kyotera, Amuru. We are receiving cases from there but don’t relax and think because we are reporting few cases,the situation is getting better,no,”she said.
Uganda recorded it’s first case of coronavirus in March 21st 2020 and since then the government has been gearing up the effort to manage the spread of the pandemic in the country.