The Ministry of Health (MOH) has downplayed the pay demands from health workers who were involved in the treatment of individuals infected during the 2022 Sudan Ebola virus disease outbreak. The outbreak, which originated in Mubende District, spread to neighboring districts, causing widespread concern.
The health workers, under their umbrella organization, the Uganda Medical Association, have expressed dissatisfaction, stating that despite Uganda currently battling a new outbreak—one that has so far claimed one life and affected eight others, all of whom have since been discharged—the Ministry has not paid the allowances promised three years ago.
Dr. Herbert Luswata, the President of the Uganda Medical Association, had previously raised concerns, noting that failing to compensate health workers involved in such life-threatening emergencies is demoralizing. He warned that this could result in some workers choosing to stay away if this new outbreak, which is currently under control, changes course and worsens.
But when these concerns were put to Emmanuel Ainebyoona the ministry’s Senior Public Relations Officer, he said they cleared all those that they had contracted for the outbreak. He told URN that any doctor who claims to have not received their money should show evidence that they were indeed hired by the ministry.
However, while the ministry says they paid everyone, a doctor who spoke to URN on condition of anonymity says seventy-six of the healthcare workers deployed by the ministry have never been paid and efforts to seek legal redress have been futile.
The doctor who was deployed at Mubende Hospital in October 2022 says their lawyers at Makmot Kibwanga and Company Advocates lost interest in the case shortly after officials in the ministry received the notice of intention to sue in April 2023.
He said the salary arrears and per diem that were never received amounts to 1.9 billion shillings but adds that they had received an acknowledgment from the Solicitor General who promised to revert after thorough consultation but two years later, he says, this response has never come through.
Of the health workers demanding pay are thirteen medical doctors, five clinical officers, twenty nursing officers, twenty-five assistant nursing officers, six laboratory experts, and a psychiatric nurse among others. The health workers were offered six-month local non-gratuitable contracts whereby doctors were promised five million shillings per month, 2.6 million shillings for clinical officers, and 4.4 million shillings for nursing officers.
Another doctor who asked not to be named told URN, that he was only given one month’s pay by the Ministry of Health and given per diem by the World Health Organization for two months and never got any other money thereafter.
Meanwhile, apart from MOH, other humanitarian agencies and organizations that got involved in managing the outbreak such as the World Health Organisation, the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), and Medecins Sans Frontieres also hired health workers but the Uganda Medical Association says all health workers who were contracted by those other agencies were all paid.
For the ongoing outbreak that was declared in January however, it’s not clear what their payment arrangement is as they have so far worked for less than a month and the country currently has no single case being treated.