Parliament Grants Bukenya Leave to Introduce Quality Healthcare Bill

What the report says

Parliament has allowed Bukuya County MP Dr. Michael Bukenya to move forward with a Private Member’s Bill aimed at improving healthcare quality and patient safety in Uganda. According to Nile Post, lawmakers backed the motion to seek leave to draft and table the proposed Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Bill, which passed with unanimous support.

Speaker Jacob Marksons Oboth, however, urged caution over the bill’s potential cost. He said that because the proposal would create an authority, the government must be involved early and a Certificate of Financial Implications will be needed before the measure is formally introduced. Oboth stressed that Parliament should not approve a new institution without first understanding the financial burden it could place on the state.

The next step for Bukenya is to work with the Attorney General and the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to secure the required certificate. Only after that can the bill proceed to its first reading. The report places the discussion in the wider context of debate over Private Members’ Bills that seek to establish new agencies or authorities, which can add to public spending.

The leave granted by Parliament allows drafting to continue, but it does not mean the bill has been approved into law.