By Paul Adude
Buikwe South MP Lulume Bayiga said the task force is set to
investigate how the companies were contracted, pay taxes, checking of quality
assurance of the tests carried out and how they account for money they collect
from the travelers among other irregularities.
"The work of checking travelers to ensure they are
negative is done by the Ministry of Health, what we have found here is the
private companies carry out their own tests and make their own quality assurance
which is not right when it comes to checking people's health," he said.
Mr Lulume made the remarks while addressing journalists
after the task force's meeting with officials from the Uganda Civil Aviation
Authority (UCAA) during a visit at Entebbe International Airport and Penniel
beach testing and screening centre over the weekend.
"What is pertinent is to ensure all travelers are
tested and given genuine results, we have had incidences of people with
positive Covid results later on turning out negative, people who have not been
tested getting results as long as they have paid money. The health ministry or
a body it authorizes is responsible for ensuring quality assurance yet the labs
here are telling us they carry out their own quality assurance" he said.
Entebbe Municipality MP, Mr Michael Kakembo, said the labs
in question include Safari lab, Test and fly laboratory and Case Clinic.
The task force discovered they were charging exorbitant fees
in comparison for the same services at different border points.
"We went to Mutukula border, we found the same
companies charging Shs 140,000. At Entebbe we found they were charging between
Shs 300,000 to Shs 350,000," he said.
"Private companies are after making profits but not
saving people's lives, that is why we are having problems with our travelers,
people can test negative before traveling out and test positive on reaching
their destination countries which paints a bad picture on our country as a
whole," he said.
Kalungu West MP, Mr Joseph Ssewungu, said there is need to
find out how authorities at the airport allowed travelers from category one and
two countries were Covid strains like the delta variant originated from to
enter the country.
"What we have found out to be true is that CAA
authorities allow non Ugandans from countries like Britain enter the country
without any extra checks but Ugandans who come from the same country are denied
entry and made to pay for the tests. We have even found companies making upto
$60,000 (Shs 213 million) per day, we need to find out who gave them those
contracts," he said.
Ssewungu said there is need to find out the origin of the
fake Covid-19 test results sent by the ministry of health that end up being
accepted by CAA officials at the airport.
"We could have avoided the variants coming into the
country but there are a lot of mistakes between the Ministry of Health and CAA
authorities," he said.
UCAA officials led by the Acting Director General Mr Fred
Bamwesigye told legislators that the forging of results was as a result of
hackers infiltrating the system shared between them and the health ministry.
"Forging of results was not there in the beginning,
even right now it's not at a point that it's out of control. Forging results is
a very hard issue, when the second variant came, I believe in ministry of
health found difficulty in testing which has been affected by hacking," he
said.
The General manager UCAA Mr Emmanuel Barungi said even
though there is an online checking system, it is not 100 percent air tight.
"The system was hacked, even results that are verified
as real can be checked and found to be with forged PCR (Polymerase Chain
Reaction) tests, results can be hacked into online" he said.
However the head of the labs at Penniel beach, Ms Betty
Nabalindwa, said it was only travelers category two countries (UK, USA, China,
Turkey, South Africa among others) that where they paying a mandatory fee of 65
dollars (Shs 230,000) for ordinary checks and 75 dollars (Shs 266,000) for
express checks not as reported by the MPs' findings.
"We are employees of test and fly, I'm not contracted
under government of Uganda per se but we are mandated to do this work by the
ministry of health," she said.
Legislators on the Parliamentary Covid-19 task force have
said there is need to investigate three privately owned laboratories that are
carrying out screening and testing services on travelers at Entebbe
international Airport due to irregularities in their operations.
Buikwe South MP Lulume Bayiga said the task force is set to
investigate how the companies were contracted, pay taxes, checking of quality
assurance of the tests carried out and how they account for money they collect
from the travelers among other irregularities.
"The work of checking travelers to ensure they are
negative is done by the Ministry of Health, what we have found here is the
private companies carry out their own tests and make their own quality assurance
which is not right when it comes to checking people's health," he said.
Mr Lulume made the remarks while addressing journalists
after the task force's meeting with officials from the Uganda Civil Aviation
Authority (UCAA) during a visit at Entebbe International Airport and Penniel
beach testing and screening centre over the weekend.
"What is pertinent is to ensure all travelers are
tested and given genuine results, we have had incidences of people with
positive Covid results later on turning out negative, people who have not been
tested getting results as long as they have paid money. The health ministry or
a body it authorizes is responsible for ensuring quality assurance yet the labs
here are telling us they carry out their own quality assurance" he said.
Entebbe Municipality MP, Mr Michael Kakembo, said the labs
in question include Safari lab, Test and fly laboratory and Case Clinic.
The task force discovered they were charging exorbitant fees
in comparison for the same services at different border points.
"We went to Mutukula border, we found the same
companies charging Shs 140,000. At Entebbe we found they were charging between
Shs 300,000 to Shs 350,000," he said.
"Private companies are after making profits but not
saving people's lives, that is why we are having problems with our travelers,
people can test negative before traveling out and test positive on reaching
their destination countries which paints a bad picture on our country as a
whole," he said.
Kalungu West MP, Mr Joseph Ssewungu, said there is need to
find out how authorities at the airport allowed travelers from category one and
two countries were Covid strains like the delta variant originated from to
enter the country.
"What we have found out to be true is that CAA
authorities allow non Ugandans from countries like Britain enter the country
without any extra checks but Ugandans who come from the same country are denied
entry and made to pay for the tests. We have even found companies making upto
$60,000 (Shs 213 million) per day, we need to find out who gave them those
contracts," he said.
Ssewungu said there is need to find out the origin of the
fake Covid-19 test results sent by the ministry of health that end up being
accepted by CAA officials at the airport.
"We could have avoided the variants coming into the
country but there are a lot of mistakes between the Ministry of Health and CAA
authorities," he said.
UCAA officials led by the Acting Director General Mr Fred
Bamwesigye told legislators that the forging of results was as a result of
hackers infiltrating the system shared between them and the health ministry.
"Forging of results was not there in the beginning,
even right now it's not at a point that it's out of control. Forging results is
a very hard issue, when the second variant came, I believe in ministry of
health found difficulty in testing which has been affected by hacking," he
said.
The General manager UCAA Mr Emmanuel Barungi said even
though there is an online checking system, it is not 100 percent air tight.
"The system was hacked, even results that are verified
as real can be checked and found to be with forged PCR (Polymerase Chain
Reaction) tests, results can be hacked into online" he said.
However the head of the labs at Penniel beach, Ms Betty
Nabalindwa, said it was only travelers category two countries (UK, USA, China,
Turkey, South Africa among others) that where they paying a mandatory fee of 65
dollars (Shs 230,000) for ordinary checks and 75 dollars (Shs 266,000) for
express checks not as reported by the MPs' findings.
"We are employees of test and fly, I'm not contracted
under government of Uganda per se but we are mandated to do this work by the
ministry of health," she said.