Facilitate medical personnel to excel
President Museveni (R) gestures after he decorated some medical workers with medals as the ruling NRM party marked 36 years in power at Kololo Independence grounds in Kampala on January 26, 2022. PHOTO/PPU
What you need to know:
- The issue: Medical personnel
- Our view: ...a deliberate effort should be made to reward medical workers with more than gold medals.
- The one change that government can make that will be felt from the poorest household to the richest is to improve health facilities, provide better and functional equipment as well as recruit, pay and motivate health workers to offer top notch services.
On the honour roll at the NRM Day liberation celebrations yesterday, medical personnel were at the forefront of those President Museveni awarded medals at Kololo Independence Grounds. It is not only right and fitting but also heart-warming to see the hard work and dedication of our health care givers being rewarded.
This is a welcome move but the best reward for these health professionals and many others in health centres countrywide is the gift of better facilities, wages and working conditions. Only then, can we begin to see the real potential of our medical workforce.
During the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent prevention and treatment campaigns, health workers have been on the frontline. As of January 2, 2021, according to the World Health Organisation country report, 1,800 health workers had been infected with Covid-19 and 17 deaths had been reported by then.
The level of sacrifice and dedication displayed by our medics during these tough times cannot be over emphasised.
Yet, amid all this, some of the government responses to medical workers’ grievances have been less than satisfactory, underscoring the emerging trend of undervaluing our health care practitioners. Many of our professionals have resisted the temptation of greener pastures abroad, which have drained some of our scientists, luring them away to find better opportunities, facilities and pay commensurate to their qualifications.
In light of all the above, a deliberate effort should be made to reward medical workers with more than gold medals. The one change that government can make that will be felt from the poorest household to the richest is to improve health facilities, provide better and functional equipment as well as recruit, pay and motivate health workers to offer top notch services.
In addition to improving welfare of the ordinary Ugandan, thus improving productivity, this will reduce public expenditure on flying dignitaries abroad for treatment and possibly earn us an income in medical tourism.
The allocation of funds at budgeting stage is a good stage to start. If we have our priorities in the right place, medical workers will continue to excel as a matter of routine, and not exception.
