The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, has urged the government to remove the ban on recruitment of health workers in the country, urging that the increasing population far much outweighs the existing health personnel.
Kadaga while launching the Network of African Women Ministers and Parliamentarians (NAWMP) Strategic Plan at Parliament on Wednesday said that despite Uganda’s growing population, the government has maintained a ban on recruitment of health workers.
“We still have a shortage of medical personnel but the health sector has a ban on recruitment, which has been on for long,” she said adding that it was meaningless to have inadequate staffing with a population of an estimated 40 million Ugandans.
NAWMP seeks to advocate for maternal, newborn and adolescent health.
Kadaga urged NAWMP members to speak against the proposed government plan to abolish Health Centre IIs saying it is a threat to access to health services.
“I am still opposed to the removal of Health Centre IIs because I do not believe that everybody lives within a 5km radius of a health centre,” she said.
Kadaga added, “Women are required to attend eight antenatal visits, but with all this walking, women will relax.”
The Leader of the Opposition, Betty Aol Ochan (Woman MP Gulu district), said that poor staffing levels bring about poor service delivery in public health facilities, giving an example of her constituency.
“In my constituency, people still call me asking for transport from Gulu Hospital to other private health facilities,” Aol said, urging government to step up efforts in the entire health sector, including ensuring medicine supplies.