LWENGO: District Health Workers Go Without Pay Despite Receiving 165M Covid19 Funds

There are growing concerns amongst health officials attached to some district Covid19 task forces in the country, stemming from delayed payment of allowances especially to medical doctors that were posted to district rapid response teams.

The Ministry of Finance in a recent supplementary, disbursed Shs165 million to each district in Uganda to intensify the campaign against the spread of corona virus.

When they received the funds, some district officials declared how it was to be spent.

For instance, the Luwero district Covid19 taskforce chairperson Mrs Phoebe Namulindwa and District Health Officer, Dr Innocent Nkonwa last month said they were going to use the money for surveillance, coordination, establishment of isolation centers and payment of allowances.

However, in districts such as Lwengo, officials have remained silent as workers toil without pay.

Health workers who spoke to this website on  condition of anonymity say they  have partaken in all activities, including collecting samples and handling of the case that was identified in the region.

But all this has happened without payment on top of not getting protective gear and fuel facilitation.

“It’s very painful when people air out their concerns but no one cares to respond,” said an official

Hon. Raphael Magyezi, the minister of local government guided district task forces to pay risk allowances to medical doctors as well as village health teams in the prevailing pandemic.

In the breakdown, the minister also told task force leaders to facilitate community surveillance teams that track and trace for Covid19 suspects.

All this, according to the Lwengo task force, has not been done yet the money was reportedly deposited to the district accounts.

Efforts to get a comment from the district Chief Administrative officer Mr Grace Kisembo and Chief Finances Officer Paul Serwadda were futile as our repeated calls went unanswered.

Speaking to this website, Mr Bruce Tushabe Nzabanita the President of Volunteer Extra an anti-corruption body based in the region intimated that they have received similar information from whistleblowers from the district.

Mr Tushabe appealed to State House Anti-Corruption Unit to intervene in the matters of Lwengo and other districts with similar complaints.

“We call upon Lt. Col Edith Nakalema to intervene, take action and demand for proper accountability of these funds,” Mr Nzabanita said

He also revealed that some district officials deployed their private vehicles in the district which they use to transport the sick and expectant women from villages at exorbitant costs.

Relatedly, health workers from Iganga, Jinja and Bugiri also told Chimpreports that they have not been paid despite the funds in the district coffers.