Sarah Achieng Opendi the State Minister of Health-General Duties

State minister of health in charge of general duties, Sarah Opendi, has said that government did not lose any funds following the rejection of medical equipment and furniture which failed to meet the specifications provided by the Ministry of Health.

The equipment was procured under the

financed by 13.7 million dollars out of 130 million dollars World Bank loan.

The equipment included emergency obstetric and neonatal care equipment, medical instruments, specialized equipment; and medical furniture; x-rays, dental equipment and laundry equipment worth 1.94 million dollars where by some of which required pre-installation works.

Opendi said that the supplier was requested to withdraw the equipment from the health facilities in March 2014 and after protracted discussions, the suppliers accepted to withdraw the substandard equipment from our health facilities in September 2015.

Equipment for health strengthening

She clarified that government did not lose any money from this transaction since part of the contract value about 25% had been retained and was payable upon installation and acceptance of the equipment.

“When the equipment was rejected, these funds were available to us to cover costs of replacement,”she said.

She said that to replace the rejected medical equipment, government now required the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) to test samples for quality and carry out pre-shipment inspections from the country of manufacture before the equipment is shipped.