Health Ministry vows to deal with lazy district health officers

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health has vowed to deal with lazy district health officers (DHO) who carry out their duties in the comfort of their offices.

According to ministry officials, many DHOs are not doing their work of supervising the provision of standard health care in their areas of operation.

Dr. Diana Atwine, the Permanent secretary of the Health Ministry said many DHO’s spend most of their time in their offices instead of knowing what is happening in the districts they oversee. She said DHOs should stop allowing wastage of equipment and the occurrence of avoidable deaths under their watch.

The call was made today during the annual Reproductive Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health assembly in Kampala. They were cautioned following several onsite visits being carried out by ministry of health officials.

The ministry of health has asked district health officials to move out of their comfort zones at district offices and to go carry out their duties of overseeing health facilities in the area.

Dr. Atwine says that DHOs need to get out of their comfort zone and work hard to make sure that money spent on procuring health equipment is utilized.

According to Dr. Atwine the failure for DHOs to operationalize health center IIIs and IVs even after government provides the necessary equipment is the cause of some avoidable deaths.

“DHOs are not running health centers well. We do not want to see mothers dying because they are traveling long distances,” she added.

Dr. Atwine adds that following the increase in salaries for DHOs this financial year, the affected health officials need to work.

There are more than 500 health center IVs and IIIs in the country. According to health ministry, facilities that have equipment should utilize it, instead of letting it collect dust even when health officials are present to operate them.

In an earlier interview with Dr. Ekwaro Obuku, the President of the Uganda Medical Association, all health workers were asked to work since their salaries had been increased. “Right now we have to work. We asked for money and it was given to us. So, I urge all health officials to work,” he added.

Dr. Atwine says that health ministry is going to carry out on site visits at all health facilities in the country. She said DHOs who are found to be under performing shall be removed from their stations and sent elsewhere.

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