Covid-19 Patients’ Food Debt Forces RCC to Write to Arua Hospital Boss
Swadick Angupale Alemi, the Arua Deputy RCC. Photo Credit_Andrew Cohen Amvesi
ARUA. Swadik Angupale Alemi, the Arua Deputy Resident City Commissioner (DRCC), has written to the Director of Arua regional referral hospital seeking clarification on why the hospital has failed to clear a woman who supplied food for covid-19 patients in care and the staff stationed in the corona treatment centre during the outbreak of the pandemic from 2020 to 2022.
This is after media highlighted how Diana Ozua, a mother of six orphans is suffering as a result of failure by the hospital management to pay her outstanding balance of shs27,612,508.
“My office has received a complaint from Mrs Diana Ozua on the above matter. The hospital had reached an MoU as attached with Shalom Classic Dishes – SMC Ltd on 13th July 2020 as indicated but to date she hasn’t been paid her balance. This has greatly affected her business and the family. The children are no longer in school, she has been sent out of the house she was renting due to accumulated arrears and the banks are demanding her for loans secured to do these supplies to the hospital,” the letter dated October 23, 2024 read in part.
Angupale reminded the director about the several requests made by Ozua’s company to have her balance of shs27,612,508 cleared but all in vain.
“It is therefore, on this bases that I am writing to you to seek clarification as to why she isn’t paid? As a government institution, we wouldn’t like to see it being dragged to courts of law to incur costs on the tax payer and give bad image to the government. It is my prayer that you handle this matter and give feedback as soon as possible,” Angupale directed.
By press time, the hospital had not yet responded to the letter but in an earlier phone interview over the matter, Dr. Alex Andema, the Arua regional referral hospital Director, said he also found Ozua’s pending pay issue on the table when he was transferred to Arua.
“The money is supposed to be paid from the Ministry of Health. We have submitted the documents, so I don’t know when it will be paid. The issue is now in the ministry, we are not the ones handling it. You know these things are not sorted in the media, the media is not the solution, the solution is the Ministry of Health,” Andema said.
The MoU between Ozua and Arua hospital was on July 13, 2020 signed on behalf of the hospital by Dr. Filbert Nyeko, the then Arua regional referral hospital Director.