Health experts from across Africa have expressed dismay at the failure by Uganda’s government to stem the tide of skilled health workers leaving the country for greener pastures.
They voiced their disappointment during the third Congress of the African Health System Governance network (ASHGOVNET) in Kampala last week. The congress was held under the theme,“Fostering capacity for health governance and leadership with a focus upon health work development.”
The health experts argue that if the current hemorrhage of the country’s workforce continues unchecked, it will be extremely difficult for Uganda to fulfill its commitment to regional and global Human Resources protocols such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) Workforce 2030 Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health to which Uganda subscribes.
“It isdisappointing that officials at Uganda’s ministry of Health (MOH) evaded all our efforts to discuss the extent of the problem of brain drain in this country and the possible measures to bring it under control,” said Dr Patrick Kadama, the executive director of the African Platform on Human Resources for Health (APHRH), an NGO committed to the fight against brain drain on the African continent.
Uganda subscribes to the road map for scaling up human resources for health for improved health service delivery in the African region 2012-2025, which was adopted by African health ministers three years ago in Angola. But experts say the evident apathy towards brain drain means health improvement targets are unlikely to be met.
“No one seems to care when health workers exit this country. When you express worry about the problem to MOH officials, they tell you there is a capacity to replace those who have migrated, when it is actually not true,” said the president of the Uganda National Academy of Sciences, Dr Nelson Sewankambo.