Prime
Kyotera medics cry foul over delayed allowances
Mr John Paul Mpalanyi, the Kyotera County MP (right), addresses health workers at Kalisizo hospital after donating medical supplies last year. PHOTO / AMBROSE MUSASIZI
What you need to know:
- The medics claim the payment delays have demotivated them, and whenever they inquire from their supervisors, they are not given clear answers.
Health workers in Kyotera District, participating in the mass vaccination against Covid-19 are up in arms over non-payment of their allowances.
The medics claim the payment delays have demotivated them, and whenever they inquire from their supervisors, they are not given clear answers.
“We last carried out the vaccination exercise last month [December last year] and allowances for a full week [between December 16 and 23], were not paid. We have tried to make a follow up, but we are only told that the ministry has not sent the money to the district,” one of the affected health workers from Kakuuto Health Centre IV, who preferred anonymity, said on Wednesday.
Another health worker at Kalisizo General Hospital claimed she had planned to use her allowances to pay part of the fees school for her eight-year-old daughter but she is still at home.
“It is so unfortunate that the Ministry of Health turns a deaf ear whenever our bosses raise the complaint,” she said.
Each health worker participating in the exercise in the district was supposed to receive Shs20,000 daily, while each village health team member was to get Shs5,000 per day.
Dr Edward Muwanga, the district health officer, said a total of 320 health workers from 12 health centres are demanding Shs125m in allowances .
Dr Muwanga added that he fears that the health workers might boycott the next vaccination exercise if they are not paid.
“We are expecting more vaccines to come anytime so that more people can get vaccinated, but this exercise is likely to flop if health workers delay to get their allowances,” he said.
But Ms Odirah Nansamba, the deputy spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, said allowances were wired to the district accounts late last year .
“In every district where vaccination has been taking place, the allowances for health workers were being received even before the exercise. It was the role of the district health officer to disburse it. Let him (DHO) trace the money and make sure everyone is paid,” she said.
Last month, government announced resumption of mass Covid -19 vaccination in Masaka, Karamoja and other areas in eastern region.
The exercise had been suspended to concentrate on nationwide mass polio immunisation , but routine Covid-19 has been ongoing at health facilities across country .
The Ministry of Health last month said they have 13 million doses of vaccines to administer.
Health ministry statistics indicate that the country has so far vaccinated 48 percent of the targeted 22 million Ugandans. A total of 10.5 million doses of vaccines have been administered as first dose and a total of four million people are fully inoculated .
The Health ministry has also started administering booster doses to the elderly and those under the age of 50 but with comorbidities who have completed six months since full vaccination.
Though Ministry of Health statistics show that Covid -19 infection rates are on the decline, coronavirus deaths have remained high.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, a total of 3,543 have succumbed to the virus while 162,049 have been infected.
