Government defaults on housing facilities for health workers

Kampala. Although the 2018/19 Financial Year Budget came to an end with the reading of the new Budget on Thursday, government is yet to deliver on some of the priority areas in the health sector.
This financial year, government allocated Shs2.6 trillion for health compared to the Shs2.3 trillion allocated in the previous financial year.

In the 2018/2019 Financial Year Budget, government pledged the construction of 29 staff houses at health centre IIIs in Karamoja sub-region in the districts of Kaabong, Abim, Kotido, Moroto, Amudat, Napak and Nakapiripirit.
It also listed Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs) to take services closer to the community, deliver family centred healthcare services through health promotions, sensitisation and prioritisation of disease prevention.

Ministry responds
Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the minister of Health, acknowledged the failure to implement some priorities stating that it was due to unforeseen incidents.

“The CHEWs money was given but some people used malice to deceive the President that these were going to be used to interfere in elections so we delayed the process,” Dr Aceng said on Saturday.
However, government managed to deliver on some priorities such as increasing the salaries of health workers, upgrading of health centre IIs, and has commenced the construction of a specialised regional centre for paediatric surgery in Entebbe.

There have also been several interventions aimed at scaling up vaccination against Hepatitis B, Malaria control and HIV/ Aids prevention.
Government has also promised to construct staff houses and maternal wards in 81 health centres to improve supply of medicines.

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