Corruption and Health Service Delivery at Kampala Capital City Authority Health Centers

Abstract

The study assessed the effect of corruption on health service delivery at Kampala Capital City Authority Health Centers. The objectives of the study included; to find out how bureaucratic corruption affects service delivery at KCCA health centers, to examine how conflict of interest affects service delivery at KCCA Health Centers and to find out how bribery and extortion affects the delivery of services at KCCA Health Centers. A case study research design was adopted employing both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Out of the targeted sample size of 161 respondents, 126 respondents participated in the study, which was equivalent to a response rate of 78.2%. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation and regression analysis techniques. Qualitative data was summarized and presented using verbatim statements. The findings showed that, bureaucratic corruption affected service delivery by 23.9%, conflict of interest had 38.9% effect on health service delivery while bribery and extortion affected health service delivery by 18.9%. The results therefore mean that conflict of interest had the greatest effect on service delivery. In conclusion, the researcher observed that bureaucratic corruption which results into low morale among the health workers significantly contributes to poor health service delivery. Conflict of interest contributed to poor service delivery since it compromises the recruitment process and cheats the health centers of would-be competent and committed staff. Solicitation for bribes from the patients was also contributed to poor service delivery. The study recommended that KCCA should come up with strategies to motivate its workers, especially in the health department; streamline the recruitment system to minimize conflict of interest and seriously revise and emphasize the work ethics and code of conduct.