Ministry of Health staff to reapply for jobs -Health service commission

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health staff will be required to apply for their jobs afresh in order to fit within the new structure.

Prof Pius Okong, the chairperson of the Health Service Commission says that they have embarked on a validation exercise to ascertain the number of people employed by the Ministry after realizing that there was no detailed information about some of the people who are paid salaries off the Ministry’s vote.

Okong says that the validation exercise started with verifying staff at the Ministry of Health headquarters and will be completed by the end of the month. Currently, the Health Service Commission is registering staff working in private, not for profit hospitals and those that are on study leave.

According to Okong, once the exercise is done, health workers will have to apply basing on a new structure for the Ministry of Health.

Okong says that at the end of this month, there will be an external advert calling for suitable candidates to apply for jobs. However, while recruiting for the Health Sector is mainly a mandate of the Health Service Commission, some of the staff at the Ministry of Health are recruited by the Ministry of Finance and others by the Public Service Commission whereas those on contract are hired internally by the Health Minister.

But, Okong says some times the right processes are not followed and some employees are hired and others promoted without following the set-out guidelines.

For instance, last month, there was controversy at the Ministry which also caught the attention of parliament when it was reported in the media that Permanent Secretary Dr Diana Atwiine had resorted to handpicking staff.

In defense, Atwiine released a statement that the positions – Director Curative/Clinical Services, Commissioner for Ambulance, Commissioner for Quality Assurance and one for Clinical services were filled by the Service Commission through well laid down processes and procedures as enshrined in the Public Service recruitment rules.

She also said the vacant positions were advertised, applicants shortlisted and successful candidates were forwarded by the Health Service Commission for an appointment. But Prof. Okong says that he wasn’t aware about it.

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