Gulu University bows to staff pressure, pays debt
GULU. Gulu University management has finally settled Shs80 million accumulated medical debt it owed St Mary’s Hospital Lacor, two years later after support staff at the institution threatened to lay down their tools.
The support staff under the National Union of Educational Institution (NUEI), on Wednesday last week, held a general assembly at the university main hall and resolved to lay down their tools if the university fails to pay the debt.
The staff say they have not been able to get medical treatment from the facility because of the debt.
The hospital has over the years been offering medical treatment to a total of 115 support staff and some 300 academic and administrative staff following a Memorandum of Understanding with the university management.
However, the management of St Mary’s Hospital Lacor stopped offering medical services to Gulu University in 2017 after their medical bills accumulated to Shs80 million.
Mr Denis Odongpiny, the NUEI General Secretary, told Daily Monitor in an interview yesterday that the support staffs have been incurring huge expenses to foot their own medical bills yet it is budgeted for at the university.
Mr Odongpiny said the staff are forced to get medical services from the university dispensary, which only handles basic medical treatment.
“The support staff earn small salaries and on top of that, they have other responsibilities, the university had earlier been footing these medical bills but now it’s not there,” Mr Odongpiny said.
Ms Christine Ayoo, an office administrator at the Faculty of Medicine in Gulu University, told Daily Monitor on Monday that she had incurred expences of Shs2 million in the last one year while treating a back injury.
A section of students also raised complaints about the university dispensary which they say cannot handle emergency medical cases.
Paying the debt
In a closed door meeting held at the university board room on Wednesday, the Vice Chancellor, Prof George Openjuru Ladah, told the staff that they had paid the accumulated debt and noted that they will “soon” start receiving treatment.
He acknowledged that the university owed Lacor Hospital Shs80 million but said it accumulated when the University had financial challenges.
