LIST: Why over 400 health workers were transferred

The Health ministry permanent secretary, Dr Diana Atwine

What you need to know:

  • Mr Ronald Ssegawa Gyagenda, the Under Secretary in the Ministry of Health, said the transfer process is aimed at improving service delivery.

KAMPALA. The Health ministry has undertaken a rare major staff shakeup in government hospitals that has seen a total of 407 health workers transferred to new work stations countrywide.
The affected civil servants include senior consultants, consultants, medical officers, nursing officers and other health practitioners.
In an interview with the Daily Monitor on Tuesday, the Health ministry permanent secretary, Dr Diana Atwine, said her ministry was simply implementing a government policy contained in the Public Service Standing Orders.

“All civil servants can be taken anywhere in the country,” Dr Atwine said, adding that the transfers take immediate effect.

However, a highly placed source at the Ministry of Health, who preferred anonymity, said the transfer of health workers was aimed at taming vices such as absenteeism, corruption, and insubordination, among others.
The source also indicated that some health workers had become errant and were no longer performing their duties due to overstaying at some work stations.

According to the Public Service Standing Orders, a civil servant can be transferred within civil service after staying in a position for at least three years.
The guiding document indicates that transfers should be done in the public interest and should never be used as a punitive measure.
But the permanent secretary downplayed the fear of these illegal activities among the transferred staff, saying they are mere allegations.

She indicated that the process, which is still ongoing, started in June last year when hospital directors and administrators were transferred.
She said an ad hoc redeployment committee looked at cadres needed in other work stations and redistributed them.
The Uganda Medical Association president, Dr Ekwaro Obuku, has since asked the Health ministry to ensure that the process is well handled by at least providing transfer allowances and a grace period of about three months.

“It is likely the transfer is related to the recent doctors’ strike rather than what is stated in the Standing Orders,” Dr Obuku said.
He said UMA has since discovered that the transfers have not be properly planned, citing an example of the only senior physician in Lira being transferred to Moroto District, leaving no one to supervise interns.
Mr Ronald Ssegawa Gyagenda, the Under Secretary in the Ministry of Health, said the transfer process is aimed at improving service delivery.