District Health Officers in the Ankole sub-region complained about the chronic understaffing at facilities. This, they say, has greatly contributed to poor delivery of health services. The DHOs said that the districts are operating at between 30 and 36% staffing.
Dr Aidah Nankiga, the Acting DHO, Rubirizi District, said that most districts have wage shortfalls, and this is really making them operate with understaffing. She said that in Rubirizi last financial year they had a shortfall of 300 million, while this financial year they are operating on a shortfall of 700 million shillings.
This was revealed during the annual Joint review meeting mission in Mbarara City on Thursday at the Adit Conference Centre, attended by the District Health Officers, Maternal and Child Health and biostatisticians, and Chief Administrative Officers.
Dr Edgar Kansiime, the Kazo District Health Officer, said that despite the ministry increasing the staffing norms, noting that it has become hard for them to operate with a thin staffing level with the increased population.
He narrated that a clinician in the outpatient department sees between 60 and 80 clients, which puts them in a position of providing low-quality services.
Dr Peter Sebutinde, the Mbarara District Health Officer, said that during their survey last year, the most raised concern was long waiting hours at facilities, blamed on limited staff. He said Mbarara District has a staffing level of 40% despite the demand for services being 10-fold.
Dr Deus Twesigye, the acting Senior Executive Consultant at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, said that the Hospital is operating with 26.4% of its human resources, which is against the newest structure that is required.
He added that the Ministry of Finance has set deliberate efforts starting this financial year to fill the new structure within the next five years.
Dr Stavia Turyahabwe, the Commissioner for Non-Communicable Diseases at the Ministry of Health, said that the government is finalizing the wage analysis that will be used to allow districts to recruit more staff to fill the vacancies.
She added that some districts, however, like Isingiro, have received some funds between 400 and 500 million shillings to help in promoting health workers, while the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital has received 4.1 billion shillings to improve staffing-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
