By Aggrey Baba
On Wednesday night, while participating in a political talk show on UBC TV, Minister of Health, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi revealed that the health workers at Mulago National Referral Hospital used to coach patients on how to cough, lie on their beds and behave well whenever they learnt that President Y.K Museveni was coming to inspect the country’s biggest hospital.
The revelation came as he (as now the Minister of Health) defended his preference for surprise inspections and a supportive style of supervision, distancing himself from the hardline accountability approach currently being used by Local Government Minister Balaam Barugahara and his junior minister Justine Nameere.
For weeks, Balaam and Nameere have dominated headlines with their impromptu inspections of hospitals, schools and local government offices across the Bugisu sub-region, with their operations uncovering absenteeism, negligence and misuse of public resources, leading to disciplinary action against several officials, including the interdiction of the Mbale District Engineer.
On whether he supported the on-the-spot arrests and dismissals, Baryomunsi said his philosophy was different.
“I think the Minister of Local Government and the Minister of State have used a different style,” he said.
The Health Minister explained that when he recently inspected Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, many expected him to order arrests after identifying several shortcomings. Instead, he opted for what he described as supportive supervision.
“Many were saying I should arrest people, but my approach is to identify weaknesses, provide solutions and help the teams improve. Arrests can come in extreme circumstances, but that is not my driving force,” he said.
Baryomunsi said his approach was shaped by his own experience while working at Mulago Hospital as a medical staff, where preparations for visits by senior government officials always turned the referral hospital into staged exhibitions.
“Whenever they would announce that the President was coming, staff would clean the hospital, bring bedsheets and blankets, arrange the beds, tell patients how to lie on the beds facing one side, and even coach them on how to cough so that everything looked perfect,” he disclosed.
According to the minister, such rehearsed preparations denied leaders an opportunity to see the true state of service delivery.
It is for that reason, the minister said, that he recently arrived unannounced at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital at around 10:00pm and inspected until about 2:30am.
To avoid raising suspicion, he said he abandoned his official vehicle having government number plates and flags and switched to another car before entering the hospital, ensuring that even gatemen didn’t know the minister was around.
The surprise visit, he said, enabled him to know the real situation inside the hospital, identify shortcomings and also appreciate areas where services were being delivered well.
While acknowledging that Balaam and Nameere were free to use a different accountability model, Baryomunsi said he had not discussed their methodology with them and could not comment on the kind of evidence they rely on before taking action against these public servants, further maintaining that improving public service delivery requires leaders to expose weaknesses and help institutions fix them, rather than making arrests the central objective of every inspection. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
