Suubi Trust

This and other posts that follow are taken from an interview with Dr. Ian in the Summit Business Review.

Summit Business Review: Comment on the state of the Government Hospitals in terms of service provision compared to the private sector.

Dr. Ian Clarke: The government allocates funds towards to the public hospitals. The private sector gets no support at all. We are currently in the process of lobbying to get more incentives towards the provision of health care by the private sector. The private sector providers take care of the health of around 50% of the population thus saving the government money.  However when one invests in advanced medical equipment which is expensive, the service provider must then charge a relatively high fee in order to recoup the investment. This equipment is also often purchased through a bank loan at high interest rates. Often the general public cannot afford to pay for such services, hence the Government could subsidize the cost of the equipment in order that we charge less when they send us patients.

We are currently advocating public private partnerships (PPPs) and Ministry of Finance is currently looking at the best operating modalities. One practical proposal is where government, for example, could contract a private hospital to deliver a basket of services in a region, to a specified number of people on the basis of capitation fees, i.e. a fee per person per year. And the hospital can be audited on the fulfilment of the services by a reputable audit body which is beyond being compromised.

There are different models that can be used to organise the health sectors if somebody thought outside the box.