Nurses abandon COVID-19 patient over unpaid allowances

Jinja, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Nurses at the Jinja COVID-19 isolation centre have declined to usher in a new patient in protest of unpaid allowances and lack of communication from the hospital administrators. The new patient was taken to the hospital at around 3 p.m, on Wednesday. 

But instead of undertaking the admission process, the nurses stormed out of the isolation centre pitched camp at the hospital’s administration block. They stated that although the Ministry of Health had informed them about a risk allowance of 80,000 Shillings a day, the Hospital administrators had instead given them 60,000 Shillings without any explanation. 

By 8 p.m when URN visited the isolation centre, the patient was still stuck in the ambulance. A nurse who spoke to us on condition of anonymity said that they have declined to attend to the patient because the hospital administrators have failed to address their grievances.

Another nurse who also declined to mention his name so as to speak to us freely says that the hospital administrators have never inspected the isolation facility, leaving the nurses to design the different zones on their own yet most of them lack such expertise. 

An intern nurse at the site told URN that they struggle to handle patients and are dissatisfied with the hospital’s reluctance in attending to their demands. 

Meanwhile, Florence Tugumusirize, the hospital director told journalists that the issues raised by nurses were being addressed but refused to divulge into details.

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