Ailing Mityana MP Francis Zaake’s chances of recovery hang in balance as he is likely to miss his surgery due to lack of money. Zaake who is currently in the U.S. for medical treatment after the brutal assault he was subjected to during the September Parliament attack has pleaded with Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to come to his rescue.
The legislator is scheduled to meet with his specialized neurosurgeons for surgery this coming Monday, however he says that he is short of the funds required for an upfront payment.
He told SoftPower News that of the Shs 259 million (USD 72,473) that Allina Health Mercy Hospital needs for him to be operated, Zaake has only managed to raise Shs 129.6 million through family and friends.
A worried Zaake is looking to Parliament for his last hope to foot the remaining Shs 129.6 million so he can regain his normalcy.
On October 27, the Minnesota based hospital wrote a letter to Speaker Kadaga bringing her to the attention of Zaake’s eminent specialized surgery but two weeks later, Parliament is yet to give response.
“I have indeed waited for quite long for the institution of Parliament to arrange the money to cater for my medical bills abroad because i am entitled to this money just like any other member of Parliament,” Zaake wrote on Friday.
The legislator wonders why Parliament has ignored him at a time when he needs his health insurance the most. A week after the September 27 brawl in Parliament in which MP Francis Zaake sustained head injuries after he was manhandled by security operatives, Speaker Kadaga visited him at his Mutundwe home.
He claims he was brutalized by security operatives who stormed the Parliament chamber amid a stand off during the tabling of the contentious Bill seeking to repeal constitutional Presidential age limits.
Zaake told this website on Friday that during the visit, Kadaga pledged to help him access medical care abroad, if need arose.
Now, in his message to the Speaker, Zaake has written; “Madam Speaker, kindly intervene, my treatment is costing a lumpsum of USD 72,473.43. Please don’t let me believe that all the commitment you made to me while visiting at my residence was but empty promises”.
“I am told that my life is at stake if I don’t undergo this surgery,” the legislator further pleads.
Parliament Communications Director Chris Obore confirmed that Parliament paid Shs 120 million shillings for Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze who also sustained life threatening injuries in the same brawl, to get treatment in India. This was after Uganda Medical Council approved that her medical case was worth a referral abroad, as procedure requires.
Parliament health insurance only caters for medical treatment in local health facilities, unless the individual seeking to go abroad for treatment secures written approval from the Uganda Medical Council.
However, SoftPower News understands that as Zaake travelled to the U.S. before the procedure was concluded. Parliament is yet to receive a directive from the Prime Minister who writes only when he receives a letter of approval from the Medical Board. The Prime Minister’s Office is yet to officially sign Zaake’s paperwork upon which Parliament releases the money.
Obore said; “Zaake is an MP who is entitled to treatment but he also knows that there is a procedure for getting treatment abroad. Parliament will pay the bills as directed by the Speaker the moment we receive a letter from the Prime Minister.”
The Public Finance Management Act 2015 which was passed by the legislators clearly spells out the procedure to access public funds.
“After the Medical Board grants that, the Prime Minister writes to the Speaker to inform her of that clearance. Parliament can’t release money until there’s a letter from the Prime Minister’s office,” Obore added.
Medical Treatment Abroad
Section M of the Public Service standing orders stipulate that for a public officer to qualify to acquire medical treatment abroad, that specific treatment must not be available locally.
“In each case a Medical Board must be convened by the Professional Head of Medical Services and it must sign a certificate that the patient is so seriously ill that there is a danger on his or her life unless he or she receives medical treatment, which is not available in Uganda,” the regulations state.
A more stringent procedure was, however, adopted following public outcry on the exorbitant budget that public servants were spending on getting medical treatment abroad even in circumstances where cases were minor.
According to the Auditor General’s report of 2016, in the period between 2013 and 2016, government spent at least Shs 10.08 billion ($2.8m) on the treatment of 140 senior government officials abroad.
