The Ministry of Health in Uganda has declared that it is illegal for government hospitals to impose fees for post-mortem examinations.
Dr. Richard Kabanda, the Commissioner of Health Promotion, Education, and Communication at the Ministry of Health, emphasized that post-mortems are a mandatory exercise funded by the government to detect infectious diseases.
During a press briefing, Dr. Kabanda stated that the public should not be required to pay for post-mortem examinations, even if the deceased passed away at home.
All deceased individuals must undergo post-mortems to determine the cause of death.
Dr. Kabanda highlighted an incident in Mubende during the Ebola outbreak, where people were secretly burying their deceased relatives without notifying authorities.
Notifying authorities is crucial to ensure that the deceased undergo a post-mortem. This process helps the government respond swiftly if an infectious disease is the cause of death, preventing further transmission.
When questioned about why government hospitals were charging for post-mortems, Dr. Kabanda explained that some facilities were exploiting the public’s lack of awareness.
He further mentioned that even if the deceased person had a different condition such as cancer, of which the relatives were unaware, the post-mortem results would alert the family to the presence of cancer in their lineage.
Dr. Immaculate Nabukenya, a lecturer at Makerere University and a Ministry of Health staff member, emphasized the importance of understanding how various diseases are transmitted, such as Foot and Mouth, sleeping sickness, rabies, and anthrax.
The Ministry of Health hosted a five-day trainers of trainers workshop on public health risk communication for public health communicators, journalists, and communications officers from various government departments and agencies.
The workshop aimed to equip participants with communication skills related to emerging and re-emerging diseases and how to effectively communicate about them to the public.
Venanio Ahabwe, an official from the USAID Social Behavior Change Activity, explained that the training was part of the organization’s support for strengthening one health reporting in Uganda.
This approach recognizes the interconnectedness between human and animal health and environmental factors, emphasizing the importance of managing these aspects to prevent the spread of certain diseases.