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Dr. Allan Muruta the Commissioner Public Health Emergencies at the Ministry of Health told Uganda Radio Network that for Ebola preparedness efforts alone, they have so far used over $36million dollars where by part of this money has come from the loan.
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The overwhelming number of disease outbreaks is stretching the
budget for health emergencies.
This is according to Dr Allan Muruta the
Commissioner Public Health Emergencies at the Ministry of Health.
Muruta says that a loan worth 15 million dollars which they
secured from the World Bank that they have been using to fund interventions is
running out.
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This loan expires in March
and yet the country is currently grappling with a number of outbreaks including the
Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever outbreak, yellow fever and yet still they have
to ensure global public health emergencies such as Ebola which is still
ravaging the neighbouring DR Congo and the Corona Virus fever that started in
China are kept at bay.
Muruta told Uganda Radio Network that for Ebola preparedness
efforts alone, they have so far used up to 36 million US dollars. He says that part
of the money as from donors.
For coronavirus preparedness, Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng told
journalists at a press briefing on Wednesday that they had approved to use 25 billion
shillings for Coronavirus screening, follow up of cases and running isolation centres.
Muruta explains that Uganda is particularly at risk of having a
lot more of such infections.
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However even as this is
Uganda’s reality, these eventualities are never planned for and therefore send
government into panic mode whenever they occur looking for funding.
Muruta says they always have to rely on donors for most of the
funding. He notes that for Ebola currently with reducing funds, they had
to cut down on screening as it was becoming very expensive for the country
considering that the efforts put in by the Congo counterparts were minimal.
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This financial year, emergency medical services were allocated 1 billion
shillings in the budget, and the same amount is being proposed in the FY2020/21
budget.
