Norvik Hospital in fake yellow fever books
Several yellow books with Norvik Hospital stamps are issued to various people going abroad for employment without vaccinations.
The Drone Media has seen and has in possession yellow books from various labour exporting companies, yet the travellers were not vaccinated. Yet, these books bear stamp of Norvik Hospital.
Some of the books were issued by Six stars International, Creative Group International Ltd and many others.
Efforts to talk to the management of Norvik Hospital proved fruitless as one of the administrators, only identified as Mark, was slippery. However, he could not deny or confirm the matter.
This was a problem when yellow fever vaccines were being given by Kampala City Council (KCC) hospital. The officials would charge sh60,000 to issue you a yellow book without being vaccinated.
This is what Norvik Hospital is doing. Those labour companies charge girls sh80,000 but they do not vaccinate the employment seekers, but they issue them with yellow books.
Two years ago the government accredited more health facilities to administer Yellow Fever vaccines to international travellers ; they also issued standard vaccination cards.
Ministry of Health signed Memoranda of Understanding with 21 health facilities assessed to administer Yellow Fever vaccines to international travellers.
The purpose of this collaboration was to share respective strengths, experiences, technologies, methodologies, and resources in order to provide and administer a safe, affordable and highly effective vaccine against Yellow Fever, and thus offering lifelong protection after a single injection.
The assessed and accredited facilities are; KCCA Clinic Kampala, Mengo Hospital, Nakasero Hospital, St. Catherine Hospital, Norvik Hospital, Kitante Medical Centre, Span Medicare, Victoria Hospital, Victoria Medical Centre, Airport Medical Centre Entebbe, Rugarama Hospital, Kabale, Kabale Regional Hospital, Rushoroza Health Centre IV, Tororo Hospital, Tororo, Masafu Hospital Busia, City Medicals Kampala, Doctors Hospital Sseguku Kampala, International Medical Centre Kampala, Kampala Medical Chambers Kampala, Le Memorial medical services Kampala and Jabez Vaccinations Kampala.
According to a health report of March, 2017 more health facilities were to be added after assessment.
During the signing ceremony, Permanent Secretary, Dr. Atwine Diana cautioned health facilities and other facilities involved in printing vaccination cards against malpractices and fraudulent activities in this exercise.
“In the past, we have had so many travelers present fake vaccination cards at border points which forces health workers to administer another Yellow Fever vaccine and issue a Government approved vaccination card. This will now be a matter of the past upon developing a partnership with these facilities,” Dr. Atwine said.
Dr. Atwine added that Ministry of Health reserves the authority to print the vaccination cards, a measure undertaken to prevent fraud, forgeries and malpractices involved in producing these cards.
The Acting Commissioner for Clinical Services, Dr. Jackson Amone noted that under this arrangement, the Government of Uganda was to issue a total of 50,000 free vaccination cards to all the accredited facilities.
“However, the health facilities were required to pay for the subsequent procurement of the vaccination cards,” he said.
Exchanges for the old cards was also to be accepted at those facilities at no cost.
Besides Yellow fever, the new standardized vaccination cards covered other immunisable diseases, and their production was strictly to be coordinated and controlled by the Ministry of Health.
The Government was to de-register any facility that abused this process in any way.
The country has experienced Yellow Fever outbreaks in the recent past, and this initiative is expected to boost national control efforts. The public is therefore urged to always carry along their vaccination cards every time they travel out or back into the country.
Ministry of Health is responsible for the planning and implementation of providing health services to all people residing in Uganda. Its mission is to ensure the attainment of a good standard of health by all people in Uganda in order to promote a healthy and productive life.