Government to recruit 1000 health workers for the COVID-19 fight

The Ministry of Public Service has cleared the Ministry of Health to recruit 1140 health workers to help reinforce the existing personnel in the fight against the deadly Coronavirus pandemic.

The 1140 health workers will be deployed in various health facilities around the country.

“The request for clearance to recruit additional 766 health workers on contract for 12 months from July,1, 2021 to June, 30, 2022 worth shs24.9 billion has been granted provided the financial implications can be accommodated under the Ministry of Health or Ministry of Finance is able to commit to fully finance it,” a letter from the Ministry of Public Service to the Ministry of Health reads in part.

The 766 health workers will be a new workforce to be recruited to strengthen the response to the pandemic in various health facilities around the country and this will be handled by the Health Service Commission.

On the other side, the contracts of 374 health workers recruited last year will be renewed for a period of one year until June 2022.

The development comes at a time when the country battles with the second wave of the deadly pandemic which has necessitated a total lockdown of the country so as to contain the situation that seemed to have gone out of hand.

President Museveni last week revealed that the current trend of the virus has seen infections increase by 17 folds.

“Over the past three weeks, the daily number of people testing positive for Corona has increased from less than 100 to now over 1,700. This represents a 17 fold increase in daily cases. As a result, our epidemic curve is now on the steep rise with increased reports of deaths nationwide,” he said.

The number of deaths has also more than doubled.

Currently, Uganda has recorded a total of 74260 cumulative Covid infections and 752 deaths since March last year.

This state of affairs has seen the health facilities, both government and private overwhelmed by the number of Covid patients they receive on a daily basis.

Therefore, the 1140 health workers will help reinforce the overstretched worker force in government facilities.