Nurses petition Parliament over salary increment

Nurses and midwives through their umbrella body, the Federation of Uganda Nurses and Midwives have petitioned Parliament for an increment in their salaries.

Ruth Lematia the MP for Maracha East presented the petition on salary enhancement discrepancies for nurses and interns.

Lematia said that the nurses and midwives had often found themselves marginalised and forgotten as medical practitioners.

"Majority of the health workers in the country are nurses standing at 70 per cent and they have over the years demonstrated tremendous effort in supporting the healthcare system at all levels," she told MPs.

Lematia said that with all the training and commitment they have injected in the health sector, nurses continue to be disgruntled and demotivated due to the continued underpayment and not being recognised.

"We need the government to fulfil its commitment to enhance the nurses and midwife salaries for this financial year if possible and we need Parliament’s intervention," she noted.

Lematia held that the government should harmonise the salary discrepancies between nurses and midwives and other medical workers; “that the re-designation of nurses and midwives should be fast-tracked according to their work”.

She asked that government should regularise nursing and midwives’ terms of service and that the government should desist from advertising jobs that give a bachelor’s degree in nursing as an added advantage.

The matter was referred to the Committee on Public Service and Local Government for consideration.