Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Central has ordered an investigation into four ambulances and medical equipment worth about Shs4.9 billion that officials at Moroto Regional Referral Hospital have failed to satisfactorily account for.
The committee wants the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) to establish whether the ambulances and medical equipment were delivered to the hospital, transferred to other health facilities or never delivered despite government expenditure being recorded.
The directive followed a PAC hearing chaired by Vice Chairperson Sarah Lwansasula, during which hospital officials were questioned over several assets identified in the Auditor General’s report.
The hospital delegation, led by Director Dr Stephen Pande and Principal Hospital Administrator Paul Ajur, appeared before the committee to respond to audit queries concerning medical equipment and ambulances.
Auditors told MPs that they used Ministry of Health delivery records to identify equipment allocated to regional referral hospitals before attempting to physically verify the items at Moroto.
The verification, however, revealed discrepancies between equipment listed in government records and items that hospital officials could physically trace.
Four ambulances, reportedly valued at Shs5.062 billion, could not be accounted for.
Hospital management told MPs that it had started compiling an ambulance responsibility report to establish the location and status of the vehicles.
The committee, however, demanded that the investigation establish who received the ambulances, whether they were transferred elsewhere and whether any transfers were properly authorised and documented.
The ambulances were not the only assets raising concern.
The audit also identified medical equipment worth approximately Shs4.9 billion whose status could not be satisfactorily established.
Among the items reportedly listed as not received were an ICT monitor and an ICT compressor.
Other equipment, including mobile X-ray equipment, blood gas analysers, central patient monitoring units, ICU beds, neonatal ventilators, patient monitors and an oxygen plant, was reportedly available but, in some cases, not in use.
Representatives of the Auditor General told MPs that hospital management had not provided sufficient evidence showing the physical location of some of the equipment.
The committee wants investigators to distinguish between equipment that was never delivered and equipment that was delivered but remained unused, improperly stored or awaiting installation.
Bunyole West MP James Waluswaka called for a CID investigation into the matter.
“Government spent Shs4.9 billion of taxpayers’ money, and the equipment did not reach Moroto Regional Referral Hospital,” Waluswaka said.
He urged investigators to establish whether fraud occurred, while Elgon County MP Ignatius Mudimi Wamakuyu supported the proposal and called for the inquiry to extend to Ministry of Health officials involved in the procurement and delivery of the equipment.
Dr Pande told the committee that he arrived at Moroto in 2023, after some of the equipment had reportedly been delivered.
“Although I take responsibility, I came late in Moroto in 2023, two years after the new delivery,” Pande said.
His explanation prompted further questions from MPs about what action hospital management had taken after the audit raised concerns about the assets.
Lwansasula challenged the hospital’s accounting leadership to explain whether the equipment had been physically verified and what measures had been taken to establish its whereabouts.
Incomplete storage facility
MPs were also told that a structure intended to house some of the equipment had not been completed.
The UPDF Engineering Brigade was reportedly expected to construct a shed for the equipment, but the structure remained unfinished.
The committee is expected to examine whether the lack of appropriate infrastructure contributed to some equipment remaining unused or making it difficult to verify.
PAC has also proposed involving the Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, procurement officials and finance officials in explaining the procurement, delivery and custody of the equipment and ambulances.
The investigation is expected to examine procurement documents, supplier delivery records, goods-received notes, asset registers, transfer records and evidence showing which officials took custody of the assets.
The inquiry will also establish whether the ambulances and equipment were transferred to other health facilities and, if so, whether such transfers were properly authorised.
Under the Public Finance Management Act, 2015, accounting officers are responsible for managing public assets and inventories, maintaining asset registers and ensuring that assets are regularly inspected.
However, failure to immediately trace an asset does not, by itself, establish criminal liability. Investigators will have to establish the specific responsibilities of the officials involved and determine whether there is evidence of administrative misconduct, financial loss or a criminal offence.
The committee wants the accountability chain—from procurement and delivery to receipt, storage, transfer and use—to be established so that public expenditure can be matched with the medical services and assets available to patients at Moroto Regional Referral Hospital.
