Must Ugandan Children Die So Katrina Victims Can Survive?

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Must Ugandan Children Die So Katrina Victims Can Survive?

Before sending $200,000 to help hurricane victims in the United States, Ugandan officials should find the $60,000 for life-saving hospital equipment that has been desperately needed for years, complains this incredulous editorial from Uganda’s Sunday Monitor.

September 25, 2005

Original Article (English)

The Uganda Heart Institute has for some time now been begging the public to contribute toward the purchase of equipment that will make open heart surgery possible at Mulago Hospital. Recently on WBS Television, they put their case to the public during a phone-in program.

Ordinary people were so moved by the dire situation and the urgency of the matter that they started making pledges straight away.

But their contributions were modest, and at that rate, it will take several more years before the money is realized.

Uganda'a Malago Hospital and Clinic: Lacking Essential, Life-Saving Equipment for Years.

And every year, the Heart Institute has to send 500 children home to die because they can’t be treated without the $60,000 equipment.

There must be a reason the Ministry of Health has never included this $60,000 in any of its annual budgets, but it is difficult to criticize anyone for the omission until they have time to explain it to the public.

But it is equally difficult to comprehend why the country's main hospital can’t buy this equipment with heart problems increasing by the day. Every day, one hear of civic groups raising funds to send a heart patient to South Africa or Madras, in India. Yet the bulk of these operations could be done here if the equipment were obtained.

Dr. Ezra Suruma

Thousands of parents who have watched their child die due to a faulty heart, also hear of ministers who throw a tantrum just to obtain first class airplane tickets, so that their spouses can accompany them abroad for a medical check-up. Keeping one VIP with a companion abroad for several weeks can cost $60,000 and usually, there is a panel under the Ministry of Health that approves these trips. The relevant officials that have failed to provide for the purchase of the heart equipment are therefore well-aware of this irrational use of funds.

The government has demonstrated its capacity to spend outside the budget when an emergency arises. The $200,000 that Uganda gave the United States of America as aid for the victims of Hurricane Katrina was clearly not in Dr. Ezra Suruma's budget.

[Editor's Note: Dr. Ezra Suruma is Uganda's Minister for Finance, Planning and Economic Development].

The Uganda Government should show similar concern for the dying Ugandan children who are born with heart defects, by finding another $60,000 to buy the required equipment.