Referral hospital fails to heed minister’s order

Mbeya Referral Hospital has failed to heed the Deputy Minister’s ultimatum of purchasing a CT-scan machine within 60 days.

Deputy Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Children and Elderly Dr Khamis Kigwangala’s In February made an impromptu visit to the hospital, and spoke to workers, who informed him that the facility has never had a CT-Scan machine since its establishment.

They also told him that other machines sent there by the government were not working because there were no qualified technicians to operate them. The hospital serves six regions in the southern highlands.

Dr Kigwangala said it was inconceivable to see such a major hospital operating without a CT-Scan machine while it collects Sh500mil per month through its internal earnings.

He said since the hospital was a member of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), its leadership could have taken a loan to buy the machine.

“How can a private hospital manage to buy a CT-Scan machine and not a referral hospital like yours which collects Sh500 million per month? You have the NHIF access from which you can take a loan to buy the apparatus,” Dr Kigwangala advised.

Speaking to The Citizen team yesterday, the hospital executive director Dr Godlove Mbwanji, said although the hospital earned praise for collecting more than Sh500mil per month, its operational costs were higher than what it could have been imagined.