Some nurses deployed at the KCCA primary school COVID-19 vaccination center in Kamwokya have shunned the exercise protesting non-payment of their allowances.
The nurses are entitled to a daily allowance of Shillings 5000, which is meant to facilitate their movement. However, the nurses have gone for a week without the payment of their allowances. They also note that the Ministry of Health is non-committal on when they will get the allowances.
Moses Kigozi, the head of the vaccination team at KCCA primary school told URN on Friday afternoon that some of the nurses decided to stay for the entire week due to lack of facilitation.
Kiplangat Cherop, the President of the Uganda Nurses and Midwifery Union, says the ministry is currently unable to provide for the huge number of nurses involved in the exercise.
Earlier this week, Dr. Alfred Driwale, the head of the Uganda National Expanded Program on Immunization, said that they were working with Kampala Capital City Authority and division health centers to address the issue. The problem of nurses staying away from the vaccination site vaccinate due to lack of allowances has not come to the knowledge of KCCA. Juliet Bukirwa Muwanguzi, the acting Head of Public Affairs at KCCA, says that she is not aware of any nurses on strike.
The country has administered 2.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines against a target of 22 million Ugandans. Uganda is among countries that have failed to attain the 10 percent target that was set for September by the COVAX facility.
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Government should pay nurses their allowances on time.