Compensate health workers
Doctors under their umbrella body the Uganda Medical Association(UMA) are demanding that the government compensate all health workers who succumbed to Covid19 while on duty two years ago.
Leaders of the Medical Practitioners’ body that remains on strike claim that the bereaved families to the health workers are struggling and choking on poverty since their demise.
Dr Samuel Oledo the President UMA says over 80 health workers including 50 doctors have died from the disease in a period of two years. He says most health workers in General wards and Outdoor Patient Departments(OPD) lack access to adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) yet they usually interface with asymptomatic patients.
Oledo explains that the government has concentrated on only providing doctors at Covid19 Health Units with PPE’S leaving out the majority in other departments.
“The govt has tried its best to give out PPE s to health workers in Covid 19 infection units,but you find that many doctors in other departments meet with asymptomatic patients,we use the same gloves and masks which are sometimes not there,you find yourself touching a patient and transferring the infection to your whole family.We have lost over 80 health workers ,over 50 doctors to covid 19 acquired in hospitals yet no doctor has died in a covid 19 unit because they have PPE’s,”he said.
Compensate health workers
Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng the Minister for Health says the majority of health workers contracted the disease from the communities and therefore cannot be compensated. She adds that no doctor contracted the virus while on duty.
The Ministry of Health and that of Gender, Labour and Social Development similarly argue that only doctors who worked on COVID-19 treatment wards and came into contact with known COVID-19 positive cases deserve the compensation because it is easier to trace where they were infected.
According to the country’s workman compensation law, families of these health workers are supposed to receive the equivalent of their monthly salary for a period of 60 months. This can be paid in a lump sum or in a periodic way.
