Health ministry PS overrules CAO on Abim nurses

Dr Besigye meets some of the nurses at Abim Hospital recently

KAMPALA- The permanent secretary of the ministry of Health Dr Asuman Lukwago will intervene in a disciplinary case against three nurses at Abim Hospital who talked to FDC’s presidential candidate Kizza Besigye about the dilapidated state of the hospital last week.

“I am going to reverse it,” Mr Lukwago told the Sunday Monitor during an interview in Kampala, adding: “There are times when you shouldn’t overreact. Besigye might use it [disciplinary action against the nurses] for political capital.”

After Besigye’s visit of the hospital last Saturday, the Abim District Chief Administrative Office Moses Kaziba Nandhala wrote to the three nurses who took the presidential candidate around the hospital, accusing them of speaking to the media and taking Besigye around the hospital without authorisation.

One of the nurses Ms Santina Adong had told Besigye the hospital has no doctor whereas her colleagues Paska Akello and Immaculate Owili said the hospital lacks running water, which they have to fetch from elsewhere.

For that, Mr Nandhala wrote, “…you signed an oath of secrecy and oath of allegiance…you vowed not to reveal unauthorised information. The Standing Orders emphasise a number of issues such as communication, bearing civil servants from political activities,”

Dr Lukwago said it is the CAO or Local Council 5 chairperson to speak for local governments, but added: “Health is not a thing where we can go to popularity contests. You don’t have to punish people because they have said this.”

The story of the nurses suspension has been trending on social network sites like Facebook and Twitter. The British Broadcasting Corporation Online also picked it up. On Twitter, some people have tweeting about the matter using the hash tag ‘≠SaveAdong’.

Some point out that the nurses should not be punished for telling those contesting for Uganda’s presidency the problems health units grapple with. Many do not have doctors. Others have doctors but not drugs. In other cases, they have doctors and the drugs but the health workers have to commute for at least 20km daily from their homes to their workplaces and back.