Parliament has raised serious concerns over the mismanagement of public resources in regional referral hospitals, following an investigation that revealed missing ambulances and unused medical equipment worth billions of shillings.
Ambulances Missing at Moroto Hospital
The Public Accounts Committee (Central Government) report on the Auditor General's findings for the financial year ended June 30, 2025, adopted by Parliament on Thursday, found that 15 of 18 ambulances allocated to Moroto Regional Referral Hospital could not be traced. The ambulances, valued at sh5.062b, were recorded in Ministry of Health records, but only three were physically accounted for during inspection.
Idle Equipment and Oxygen Plants
The report, presented by Sarah Rwansasura, the Woman Representative for Jinja City and chairperson of the committee, also exposed critical medical equipment lying idle. This includes intensive care unit (ICU) equipment poorly stored in general warehouses, such as a neonatal ventilator worth sh165.38m and a defibrillator.
Furthermore, oxygen generation plants worth approximately sh7.7b in Moroto, Yumbe, and Soroti remain non-functional. At Moroto, two oxygen plants valued at sh3.727b have been idle for three years due to an incomplete plant house, with construction assigned to the UPDF Engineering Brigade under a six-month contract in 2022 but never finished. In Yumbe, an oxygen plant valued at sh3.727b was abandoned after its 800-ampere circuit breaker broke down. Soroti Regional Referral Hospital also has two of its three oxygen plants non-operational because required central service contracts were not provided.
Ventilators and CT Scanner Underutilized
The committee found that Gulu Regional Referral Hospital had six ventilators that could not be used because their gas delivery hoses were incompatible with the hospital's wall gas connectors. At Soroti, three ventilators, each valued at sh357.2m, lacked basic batteries and monitors. Meanwhile, Hoima Regional Referral Hospital's CT scanner, valued at sh1.5b, was operating at only 12% capacity, serving about six patients daily against a capacity of 50, partly due to patients' inability to afford user fees.
Recommendations and Adoption
The committee recommended that the Ministry of Health and the UPDF Engineering Brigade complete, commission, and hand over the oxygen plants in the affected hospitals within 60 days of the report's adoption. The report also highlighted widespread financial irregularities, procurement violations, staff shortages, drug expiries, and failure to put critical medical infrastructure into operation across eight regional referral hospitals: Arua, Fort Portal, Gulu, Hoima, Soroti, Moroto, Kayunga, and Yumbe.
During the session, Speaker Jacob Oboth questioned the need for debate where MPs had no substantive additions, urging legislators to contribute only when their interventions would add value to the findings and recommendations.
