Published on 17/01/2025
Hon. Florence Nebanda, Butaleja District Woman MP, has called for improved pay for healthcare workers, warning against the ongoing brain drain of medical specialists from Uganda.
“We often refer patients to Kenyan hospitals only to find our own specialists working there,” she lamented. She emphasized that many regional referral hospitals are equipped for advanced procedures but lack the skilled personnel to operate the equipment. Nebanda urged immediate action to retain talent and strengthen the healthcare system.

“Last financial year, the Health Minister said there was no money for recruitment but promised something this financial year. As the committee, we should put a lot of effort on this,” Nebanda added.
Obongi County MP, Hon. George Bhoka noted that the human resource for health service in the Karamoja sub-region were appalling, especially at Moroto Regional Referral Hospital.
He alluded to youths from the region who have been trained in health care but have not yet been employed in the sector.
“Many of them have qualified and are volunteering in Abim, Kotido, Kaabong and Moroto Districts, without accessing the payroll. We need to know why the Health Service Commission has failed to recruit and deploy these sons and daughters of Karamoja, who are itching to serve their people,” said Dr. Bhoka.
The Principal Hospital Administrator at Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital, Michael Odur said Shs1.7 billion is required to fill vacant positions of specialists.
He added that the hospital also requires additional funding to establish accommodation facilities for its staff.
“The hospital has very limited staff accommodation with less than 17 per cent of the staff accommodated and this affects timely service delivery. We request that we are allocated Shs4 billion to put up a 16-unit storeyed staff house,” Odur said.
Moroto Regional Referral Hospital Director, Dr Stephen Pande, said the hospital is staffed at 23 per cent, highlighting severe staff shortages in various departments, with Shs2.051 billion required to address the gap.
Amid the concerns of limited resources to cater for human resource raised by the hospital directors, MPs raised the need for quality health services including customer care, to be provided by the available staff.
“I want to urge the hospital directors to ensure customer care in our health facilities. If it means having a CME [Continuing Medical Education] every two weeks, let us do it. Our patients must experience good reception in these facilities,” said Hon. Joseph Ruyonga, Chairperson of the Health Committee.
“All the issues we see happening in hospitals are due to poor customer care. When patients are referred to the regional referrals, they are sometimes received by cleaners or security officers who have no skill in customer care. This should be addressed,” added Hon. Elisa Rutahigwa (NRM, Rukungiri Municipality).