Services cut as hospital runs out of money

By Glenda Awikiak
Daru General Hospital in Western will not be operational until such time that all its needs are addressed, says chief executive Orpah Tugo.
The hospital scaled down its services for an indefinite period last month because it had no funds to operate.
Tugo said Health Department was aware of the hospital’s situation and had responded to address it.
The hospital has received necessities like sterilisers and face masks. A technician is fixing the x-ray machine.
“In terms of funding, especially our hospital grant, we are yet to receive and hear from the department,” Tugo said.
She said the hospital had not been receiving its required amount of operational grants on a timely manner.
“All our essential drugs and diagnostic equipment, plus our x-ray machine and tuberculosis laboratory are out of order and we cannot continue,” Tugo said.
The hospital receives a monthly operational grant of K300,000 for all its essential services and K150,000 for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) response programme.
That money has not been received since the beginning of this year.
“The need for our operational grant has accumulated over time,” Tugo said.
“It has affected every sector in the hospital. We don’t know what and how to do our work to help the patients.