MPs Raise Alarm Over Shs7.7bn Non-Functional Oxygen Plants in Regional Hospitals

What the report says

Parliament’s Committee on Public Accounts (Central Government) has raised alarm over oxygen plants worth Shs7.7 billion that have not been working at Moroto, Yumbe and Soroti Regional Referral Hospitals. According to the report presented by Deputy Chairperson Sarah Lwansasula, the stalled equipment is affecting service delivery in underserved parts of Uganda and reflects weak contract management.

Watchdog Uganda reported that at Moroto, two oxygen plants valued at Shs3.72 billion have stayed idle for three years because the plant house was not completed. The Ministry of Health had assigned the UPDF Engineering Brigade to finish the work under a six-month arrangement in 2022, but the facility reportedly remains unfinished. In Yumbe, an oxygen plant worth Shs3.727 billion is also incomplete, while in Soroti, two of three plants were not operational, including one that had not been formally handed over and another that lacked servicing under a centrally managed maintenance arrangement.

The committee recommended that the Ministry of Finance hold the Ministry of Health and the UPDF Engineering Brigade accountable and that the stalled facilities be completed and handed over within 60 days after Parliament adopts the report. The report also highlighted wider medicine supply problems, including delayed National Medical Stores deliveries and stock-outs at several regional hospitals. Parliament adopted the committee’s reports without debate, and government is expected to respond with a Treasury Memorandum within six months.