PM Nabbanja wants no-show health workers punished

At least 44 staff of Ngoma Health Centre IV in Nakaseke District will face disciplinary action after they were absent when Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja made an impromptu visit at the facility last week.

On May 8, the leader of government business found only five hospital staff on duty of the 49.

According to recommendations contained in a report of the monitoring visit to Ngoma Health Centre prepared by the permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime (OPM), the 44 staff will have to face disciplinary action for absenteeism.

“The office of the Prime Minister resolved that staff that were absent on the day the team visited the health centre, will appear before the rewards and sanctions committee,” the report authored by the permanent secretary in the OPM reads in part.

According to the report, the staff that were absent included the in-charge medical officer, who had gone to pick school fees for his children in preparation for taking them back to school; the clinical officer, who had gone to pick food for supper, and one midwife in her room.

The report further described the health facility as unkempt.

“...the compound was bushy, the community members complained that there were no drugs in the facility and when the drugs were availed, these people were meant to pay for them and all this was as a result of poor managerial skills and lack of innovation,” reads the report in part. 

It also suggests that there would be a display of duty roasters in open strategic places with contacts of staff expected on duty and the staff are to register arrival and departure time in the attendance register kept at a designated place.

Further, the report recommends that the practice of dispensing drugs once a week should stop, ensure display of drug stocks so as to foster transparency and accountability, and adopt standard drug management practices such as timely stock balances and stock card updates.