Muwanga Kivumbi
The Management of Lira Regional Referral Hospital has defended the UGX1Million pay to private medical doctors per month, saying there are many doctors languishing on the streets without jobs and the said amount isn’t forced on these doctors as they agree to the meagre pay.
The defence was made by Dr. Nathan Onyachi, Director, Lira Regional Referral Hospital while appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on 10th July 2025, to respond to queries raised in the December 2024 Auditor General’s report.
Onyachi explained, “It is much smaller than the government side, because I think they are receiving a net of about UGX1Million because we are just starting. It is possible because there are many doctors on the streets as I speak.”
This was after Muwanga Kivumbi (Butambala County) tasked the Management of Lira Hospital to explain why they hired 28 doctors as private practitioners and whether they had received authorization from Health Service Commission to hire the doctors under such terms.
Onyachi replied, “What has been the practice is that when you have such workers, you contact the Health Service Commission to validate them. Yes, because it is the Health Service Commission that has got the authority to offer the final contract. But in the case, you have made local contracts, you can invite the Health Service Commission to validate them.”
Muwanga wondered how Lira Hospital would justify the payment of UGX1Million and make them work for 8hours, which pay is much lower than what the Government hired workers are paid.
“But the answers you are giving us, do they stretch your normal imagination? That you are imagining a doctor, anyway, a graduate doctor, would agree to work for one million in a hard-to-reach area?” asked Kivumbi.
Onyachi doubled his defence noting, “It’s abnormal, really, because a doctor should be getting much better pay, but it is a mutual agreement with the doctor who has come to seek for the job. So, we offer what is available, and then you agree and say, I will take this pay.”
Victoria Nekesa (UPDF Representative) weighed into the questioning noting, “I would like to know this issue about the contracts and the doctors working by the twin. Do these stay permanently by the twin or are there other venues where you get them into the mainstream over time? Or how long are the contracts and when do you get them onto the mainstream services through the Ministry of Health?”
Gorreth Namugga (Mawogola South) castigated Lira Hospital for exploiting the vulnerability of the unemployed doctors and defending the Shs1Million saying the mode in which the doctors are hired raised suspicions on the compromises in the hiring process.
“And he tells you the fact that doctors are on the street, moving everywhere, they have no work, you can get them and pay them anything that you have because they are unemployed. So, this means by the time of his advert, there are a lot of compromises because you are dealing with vulnerable people,” said Namugga.
She added, “I think we should take interest into the operations of private wings Lira alone, but in all regional referral hospitals. There are serious compromises because government has a standard of operation, if it’s a doctor in government, these are the specifications and this is the pay. So, for you, if you turn to say, you know, this was an innovation and because it was an emergency, you just advise, get locally or wherever you can get and at the end of the day, government validates. Government will validate after this person has worked for quite some time. If there is a compromise at the end of the day, government will suffer. Why do we even go ahead to have private wings within government hospitals?”
Onyach replied, “Having private wings is a policy of the Ministry of Health. It’s not something new that we have just introduced. The Ministry of Health recognizes the presence of private wings in the hospitals. When it comes to recruitment of doctors, first of all, when you go to all these hospitals, there are already so many doctors volunteering, working for nothing. So, to me, this is some kind of opportunity for them, as a beginner, to keep their practice. I know they are earning little, that doesn’t amount to what government pays, but it is something.”
