1,200 health workers to be recruited as govt lifts ban 

Prof Pius Okong, the chairperson of the Commission, on Tuesday said the health workers to be recruited include consultants, medical officers, nurses and laboratory scientists, who will work in national, specialised and regional referral hospitals and other institutions such as the Uganda Virus Research Institute.

“Following the Ministry of Public Service lifting the ban on recruitment after the Auditor General had completed the payroll audit process, in February this year, we received the submissions to recruit health workers. We are likely to recruit up and above the 1,200 target,” Prof Okong said.

According to information from the Uganda Medical Association, the doctor and nurse positions have some of the biggest staffing gaps in health facilities with current “staffing coverage ranging from 21 percent to 63 percent (average 42 percent), leaving a significant gap.” 

The staffing gaps cause people to spend more time waiting for health workers to handle them, a problem that could cause loss of life in emergency situations.

The HSC did not provide information about the actual amount the government is spending to recruit these workers. 

The funds

However, information from the Ministry of Public Service indicates that 21 major public health facilities have a total wage bill of around Shs43 billion. 

Facilities with the highest wage bill are Hoima Regional Referral Hospital (RRH) with Shs9.2 billion, Kawempe National Referral Hospital (Shs4.6 billion) and Moroto Regional Referral Hospital (Shs4.5 billion).

In a February 2024 letter to the Health ministry, Ms Catherine Bitarakwate Musingwiire, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service, indicated that the Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury had written in April last year, advising the Ministry of Public Service to issue a letter to the Service to temporarily suspend recruitment in ministries, departments, agencies and Local Governments to allow the Auditor General finalise the comprehensive audit of the payroll.

In the letter, Ms Bitarakwate said guidance was issued by this ministry to the above effect and since the Auditor General had finalised the payroll Audit, “in view of the directives of Cabinet under Minute No. 35 (CT 2024), the Ministry of Health is hereby notified that the responsible officers of the underlisted hospitals with surplus wage as per the report of the Auditor General can proceed to recruit prioritised critical positions.”

The process

Prof Okong said the recruitment process has already started with 7,000 people applying for the jobs after the Commission advertised the vacancies. He said they are using various avenues to recruit the required workers.

“Before February, we were recruiting on a replacement basis; those were health workers who reached their mandatory retirement age, some health workers passed on, and some left. We have also carried out advertisements, and so far, we have published five adverts in the media,” Prof Okong said.

He added: “These adverts attracted applicants, some joining Public Service for the first time, others for promotional jobs. We also had recruitment based on validation list. Entebbe, Kayunga and Yumbe hospitals were recently upgraded from general hospitals to regional referral hospitals.” 

“So, during that process, we also identified staff who have to be promoted and the list already exists and we have to appoint staff from that list. We also had other interview reserve list from which we appointed, then we also had Covid-19 workers that we recruit based on the need,” he added.

Covid-19  workers are those who were recruited to handle Covid-19 patients but their contracts were terminated when the number of patients reduced.