The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has backed proposals to increase lunch allowances for nurses and build more training schools.
He announced that the nursing school at Nyarutuntu in Ntungamo will be taken over by the government.
The president was speaking at the National celebrations for the international day for Nurses and midwives held at Kyamate Secondary school playground in Ntungamo Municipality on Sunday.
Museveni promised to increase lunch allowances for health workers in the country.
He was responding to calls by the president of Uganda Nurses and Midwives union Justus Cherop Chillingati who revealed that the 2000 shillings daily allowance is too little and called for its increment to 15000 shillings.
The president also revealed that the nurses will also be helped to focus on specialized training in a bid to improve service delivery.
President Museveni further called on the nurses to focus on service delivery above self, saying that the economy is still growing and cannot accommodate all their demands. He revealed that issues such as roads and extension of electricity are also key and consume a big percentage of the national budget.
Dr. Ruth Aceng, the Health minister revealed that there are plans to continue training more nurses in the country. Although over 6000 nurses are trained annually in Uganda there is still a short fall with 1 nurse serving 11000 people in the country.
On May 12, countries around the world come together to celebrate the International Nurses Day (IND). The celebrations were held under the theme “Nurses A Voice to Lead – Health is a Human right”. Earlier in the day, President Museveni presided over the launch of Ntungamo development SACCO at Ntungamo district headquarters and also laid a foundation stone at Ntungamo Health Training Institute in Nyarututu Sub county.
