Amuru health workers decry inadequate accommodation

AMURU-Several health workers at Kaladima Health Center III in Lamogi Sub-county in Amuru district are painfully sharing housing units.

The health centre which serves the communities of Lamogi and parts of Guru Guru Sub-counties has a total of 21 staff with only four blocks of two units for their accommodation.

Samuel Ojok, the laboratory technician revealed to this reporter that as some of the staff share rooms, others have opted to rent outside the facility.

Ojok said lack of enough accommodation at the facility has affected service delivery, especially in emergencies and maternity wards.

Jennifer Aceng Okeny, a midwife at the facility said staff sharing units are psychologically affected by the fact that their privacy is being compromised.

Aceng said that their efforts to forward the staff housing challenges to the district authorities haven’t yielded any fruits.

“The four blocks we have here were constructed several years back. The fact that staff number at the facility has grown to 21, we need more houses,” Aceng said.

When asked about the inadequate accommodation at the facility, Thompson Obong, the Amuru district chief administrative officer said staff at the health centre get housing allowances that they can use to get accommodation in the nearby areas.

Obong said housing challenges should not be an excuse for poor performance, noting that housing allowances are consolidated in the salaries the health workers receive.

Michael Lakony, the Amuru district LCV chairperson acknowledged the housing challenge faced by the health workers at the facility, saying some houses at the health centre need renovation.

Lakony said in the district health sector budget for this financial year, they planned to renovate the houses and build more units but the central government couldn’t allocate the funds to this activity.

“We had planned for renovation of the existing staff quarters at the health centre but the central government did not give us the money,” Lakony said.

Several health workers in Amuru district and other districts in Acholi Sub-region have continued to decry the accommodation challenges at their duty stations.

https://thecooperator.news/nyowa-district-health-workers-grappling-with-poor-accommodation/

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