The Permanent Secretary at the Uganda Ministry of Health, Atwine Diana, has commended women working at Mulago National Referral Hospital for their resilience and leadership, saying their contribution is key to the transformation taking place within the health sector.
Atwiine said the dedication of health workers—particularly women—has enabled the hospital to attain important international certifications and maintain high standards in service delivery.
She noted that the hospital’s ISO certification and other quality achievements were made possible through the commitment of different departments and their leaders who ensured strict international standards were met.
“We would not have achieved these certifications without the dedication of every department and the people leading them,” Atwiine said.
Atwiine specifically recognized the role women play in the hospital, noting that many of them carry heavy responsibilities both at work and at home, yet continue to deliver quality healthcare services.
“We want to thank the ladies in this hospital in a special way because of the resilience they show in their work,” she said.
Despite these achievements, Atwiine acknowledged that health workers at Mulago continue to operate under pressure due to staff shortages. She explained that the hospital should ideally have about 6,000 staff, but is currently operating at nearly half of that number, leaving many health workers overstretched.
The shortage, she said, is particularly visible in critical departments such as the Intensive Care Unit, where a small number of specialists manage many complicated cases.
“When you go to the ICU, you find very few staff handling many serious situations. They are literally overworked,” she noted.
Even with these challenges, the hospital has continued to introduce specialized services aimed at reducing the number of Ugandans seeking treatment abroad.
Atwiine also highlighted the growing influence of women in leadership across government institutions, saying that many of the ongoing reforms and improvements in public service are being driven by strong female leaders.
She said government efforts to empower women and support their leadership roles are beginning to show results across sectors, including health.
“The transformation we are seeing here is also happening in other sectors because women are taking leadership and pushing for accountability and better performance,” she said.