Parliament has given the minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng until Wednesday, 18 May 2022 to explain to the House why the contracts of health workers under the Covid-19 emergency services were terminated despite a presidential directive to absorb them into government health facilities.
Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa said he recalled that following the presidential directive, the Health Service Commission employed all elegible medical officers.
He said on 10 November 2021, the Health Service Commission wrote to all directors of government health facilities that it was going to run a validation exercise of all Covid-19 emergency workers.
“They were regularised, they started working and they even started getting some loans,” said Tayebwa.
He was, however, concerned that the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, Diana Atwine overlooked this directive and terminated contracts of medical officers already employed in various parts of the country.
This, he said, was not the right way of rewarding people who risked their lives in the fight against Covid-19.
“So after saving us and Covid-19 is gone we are terminating their contracts. What if Covid-19 comes back? I do not know how we shall call these people again to volunteer,” Tayebwa said.
The response from officers whose contracts were terminated, Tayebwa said, was so spine-chilling and required urgent response from government.
