Medical doctors, policy analysts and health sector players this Thursday convene to dissect “Regulating health service delivery in pluralistic health systems” on a platform organized by Health Economics and Policy Program.
Dr. Ian Clarke (Executive Director, International Hospital Kampala), Dr. Timothy Musita (Assistant Commissioner Private Sector Coordination, Ministry of Health), Robinah Kaitiritimba (Uganda National Health Consumers Organization), Dr. Cyprian Opira (Director, Lacor Hospital), Moses Mulumba (Executive Director, CEHURD), Dr. Juliet Nabyonga Orem, Dr. Francis Ayume (Chairperson Health Committee of Parliament) and Patrick Kadama will form the virtual panel.
According to Makerere University School of Public Health, the dialogue seeks to examine the government’s efforts to ensure private healthcare services are affordable before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The dialogue will also explore the challenges in accessing and providing health care in the private sector before and during the Covid-19 in Uganda as well as policy actions/tools to manage the cost of accessing and providing private sector services, drawing on the Covid-19 experience.
The discussion will also tackle the implications of the Covid-19 experiences for the financial risk protection and universal health coverage agenda in Uganda.
The forum comes amidst a second wave of Covid-19 which is currently ravaging several countries in the developing world, including Uganda. This, as infection rate has exponentially increased, and the fatality rate has surpassed 2, 500 deaths in Uganda as of 3 August 2021.
The high infection rate means that the pandemic has stretched the capacities and resources within the public healthcare system. As a result, some people have had to seek care from the private sector to serve their health needs.
But healthcare services in the private sector came with the public outcry about what has been termed as exorbitant costs of managing Covid-19 in the private sector.
The convener of the discussion argues that focusing on the cost of health care may not address the fundamental underlying problem that needs to be addressed. The focus, according to Makerere University School of Public Health, should be on the issue of regulating health care provision within the context of a liberalized economy and a pluralistic health system.