Dr. Charles Ayume, Chairperson Parliament’s Health Committee
A new report on the magnitude of road traffic injuries reporting to public hospitals in Uganda shows government is spending billions annually on treating road crash victims.
Presented before Parliament by Dr. Charles Ayume, Chairperson Parliament’s Health Committee, during the plenary sitting, Aume revealed that the data obtained from the Regional Referral hospitals, indicated that a total of 5,986 accidents were registered in admission in 2019-2020 due to motorcycles, 9708 entries in 2020-2021 and a massive increase up to 11,452 admissions in 2021/2022 indicating a monthly average of 954 admissions.
“Averagely the cost of treating a critically ill patient is about Shs3.68Million a day. However, if there is a necessity for surgical intervention, this cost rises to Shs13.9 Million. The estimates showed that half of the admissions require surgical interventions. In that case, it means that on average, the government spends about Shs236.3Million daily on treating critically ill accident victims categorized at critical level 4,” Ayume explained.
The report added that while Uganda has a comprehensive and expansive essential package of health services, government financing is lagging, the primary health care package is still funded mainly through donors (42%) and out of pocket payments (41%) creating issues for both sustainability and inequity.
“On average, the cost of treating a moderately sick patient is Shs3.58 Million daily with surgical intervention required, the price rises to Shs13.76 Million. The findings shows that government spends about Shs344.2 Million total of the 33,208 crashes,” added Ayume.
He also revealed that the highest number of admissions were due to motor cycles, with males being more affected compared to females.
“Motorcyclists accounted for the biggest number of fatalities in all the four years, followed by passengers on motorcycles followed by pedestrians, so there is clear evidence are the biggest causes of accidents and deaths in Uganda,” he said.
The report proposed a number of recommendations to reduce on road carnage including heavy fines and punishment for aggressive behavior on the road including permanent withdrawal of license for frequent victims of over speeding, under the influence of alcohol and reckless driving.
