Baterana surrenders office to Deputy
Interdicted boss at Mulago National Referral Hospital Dr. Byarugaba Baterena has followed orders and handed over office to his deputy.
Dr Baterena is currently in the eye of the storm as he battles accusations of gross mismanagement causing the government financial loss worth 28.8 billion shillings.
He was banned from official duty by Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Dr Diana Atwine last week to pave the way for investigations into the allegations meted on him. He was consequently replaced by his Deputy Director Dr. Rosemary Byanyima.
Baterana faces charges of Abuse of Office, Embezzlement, Causing financial loss and fraudulent false Accounting. He is currently out on Police bond.
Baterena appeared at Mulago escorted by his lawyers and handed over office to his Deputy Director Byanyima, in the presence of PS Atwine and other board members at the hospital.
The board promised to furnish Baterana with all the necessary support to defend himself against the corruption allegations he faces.
Baterana’s woes stem from an investigation launched by the State House Health Monitoring Unit, following reports from staff at Mulago Hospital and concerned citizens of mismanagement of funds meant for running the referral and its associated hospitals.
According to Namara Warren, the director of the investigative unit at Statehouse, in April last year they discovered a number of inconsistencies and fraudulent accounting in four areas from 2016. These included finances, equipment repairs and maintenance, procurement of medicines and other medical supplies and illegal operations of private pharmacies within the hospital.
She explains that investigations revealed several inconsistencies in regard to the procurement of medicines and other medical supplies at the hospital.
Baterana surrenders office to Deputy
Among them, Mulago hospital paid First Pharmacy over Shillings 2 billion to supply medicines under emergency orders or medical supplies but only less of what was ordered was received.
Namara also says that there were also inconsistencies in the number of drugs that First Pharmacy supplied to the hospital bulk or central stores.
“It was established that funds worth 754 m were paid to First Pharmacy on an account and 14 different transactions of untraceable supplies.We could not trace where the money went.There is no record that the items were entered and issued to the department users, 1.4 million was also released for emergency supplies,” she said
The investigations also revealed that in 2016 the hospital contracted MS Setramaco International Limited and MS Convention World Limited to provide laundry machines, central sterile equipment and steam boilers and received double payment.
“In 2016 Mulago contracted two companies and our investigations about those companies have so far revealed forged job cards, work completion certificates and duplicated activities. This was a loss occasioned to the Government of Uganda under dubious and fictitious payments for supply of services and consumables,” he said.
Namara also noted that the hospital was not able to account for missing payment vouchers amounting to Shillings 5 billion and how another Shillings 974 million was spent between July 2019 and June 2021.
