Social justice through cooperative healthcare; the case of KAMACOS in Uganda
KAMPALA, February 21, 2025 — Kampala Medical & Allied Health Workers Cooperative Society [ KAMACOS ] aims to bring together medical professionals and allied health workers for economic development and humanitarian service. It is a non-political and non-sectarian organisation open to all people regardless of race, gender, religion and political preference.
The worker cooperative is the first of its kind in Uganda and was the brainchild of Dr Dan Atuwaire Kagaha, who wanted to create something stable and affordable for himself, medical colleagues and patients after a decade of witnessing poor working conditions as a practitioner.
He saw how low income, high business costs for small practices and the inability to provide continuity of care in single settings was frustrating for doctors and patients alike. His solution was cooperation.
In 2017, Dr Kagaha and six other doctors founded KAMACOS alongside the Kampala Cooperative Medical Center [KCMC], having undergone training about cooperatives. The coop started making formal consultations in 2018, and KAMACOS now provides comprehensive services to clients, from generic consultations to specific care in a “one-stop centre” such as general laboratory, orthopaedics, dentistry and physiotherapy.
The cooperative now has over 400 members, including doctors, practitioners, and their families, and some external clients, users, and workers. About 40 percent of the members are women, and the majority in the cooperative are young people. When joining the cooperatives, members also receive medical insurance, covering the medical care for them and their families paying a monthly premium of Shs 10,000.
All members meet monthly, while the board, half of whom are women, meets weekly. Some committees cover day-to-day operations.
Beyond general health, the cooperative aims to improve and empower members economically by encouraging them to engage in other income-generating activities like farming and also to save for investment. KAMACOS also engages in conferences, campaigns, and radio and TV talk shows to create awareness about health.
“Being a cooperative means to give and get quality services. To benefit from each other’s work, and to be self-sustaining,” says Dr Kahaga.
“Being part of a cooperative community allows us to share basic services, reducing the stress of dealing with administrative and management issues singularly. It allows us to balance our professional and personal lives, allowing us to spend with our families and those that we care about. We are now a team and a family.”
Despite challenges like limited equipment and financial constraints, KAMACOS continues to support its members and aims to popularise the cooperative model for better healthcare delivery.
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