Govt seeks permission to divert Covid funds
Government is negotiating with donor partners to channel part of the funds meant to be used as an emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic to address other emerging issues in the health sector.
The permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Diana Atwine says the World Bank provided USD 195.5 million to Uganda for the COVID-19 response and emergency preparedness project, but as of now, Covid-19 cases have gone down and therefore, the funds can be used to address other emerging issues in the sector.
“We are now going to redefine the priorities in our implementation because the priority at that time was Covid but the landscape has changed now. We want to look at the critical areas that help us to improve and support the systems,” Atwine said.
She added that government is negotiating with the World Bank to allow them allocate the funds to do other work.
Atwine says the money was meant to strengthen laboratory operations, COVID-19 surveillance, scale up vaccination against COVID-19, and procure vaccines among others.
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