Medical council moves to regulate mushrooming public health camps

The Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council has finally swung into action on the mushrooming health camps organized in the various parts of the country as a way of protecting the public from consuming expired drugs and being in care of unqualified health personnel’s.

Speaking to NBS TV, the registrar Uganda medical and dental practitioner’s council, Dr Katumba Ssentongo Gubala says this comes amidst public outcry and fears by the health ministry on the quality of care provided by the medics at these camps.

Hardly a week goes by without an announcement on an ongoing health camp for HIV, Malaria, eyes and commonly Cancer in various parts of the country.

But while service providers may have all the good will to avail care to the masses; this has not been achieved by many.

Dr Katumba Ssentongo Gubala the Registrar Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council says its high time these activities are regulated.

“We want to make sure that everyone providing care at a health camp is a doctor, in most cases these camps.”

Dr Katumba says even in areas where the health camps have been held, many patients have gotten stuck without getting medical attention at all.

“Some camps don’t have capacity to handle the people who have attended, we have seen many people leave camps more sick than they were before they came.”

For health camps held by foreigners, the council has realized that many of the drugs used are expired or the foreigners treating Ugandans are not even doctors but many are using our people as specimens for their research

Effective this month to hold a health camp one is expected to apply to the Uganda medical and dental practitioners’ councils two weeks before the day the camp starts.

“Some foreign camps involved medics who had even forgotten the medical practice but we have also learnt that many of those doctors who come have even banned from operating in their own country.”

Health camps in Uganda have often been taken as corporate social responsibility by companies or kingdoms to avail specialized medical care to communities