Absenteeism at health centres: Treat causes

This week, this publication reported that Wakiso District is set to install biometric machines and CCTV cameras at health facilities this financial year. Each of the health centres will have eight cameras and one biometric machine. The District Health Officer, Dr Emmanuel Mukisa, said the camera installation process is ongoing while the biometric machines will be installed in the third quarter of the financial year.

“We are doing away with the staff attendance audit books and now going digital. Each health facility has been asked to include this in the expenditure priorities in this year’s budget (2024/2025),” Dr Mukisa said.

On the face of it, the introduction of biometric attendance systems in our health centres should be celebrated because the advantages are numerous. From increased productivity, curbing staff absenteeism and vandalism of property, to increased accountability, proper payroll records and improved patient experience. The biometric machine system is expected to be the answer to the ills in our health system.

Unfortunately, it will only be putting a bandage on top of a festering wound.

The patients and authorities in Wakiso should wait to celebrate because similar technology was introduced in Iganga District three years ago and has managed to bring down health workers’ absenteeism from 50 percent to 40 percent. Meaning the decrease has been by only 10 percent.

This should go on to tell the government that there is a bigger problem that keeps health workers away from their workstations. Fortunately, these problems are known and should be addressed to find a permanent solution to absenteeism.

Because of low pay, health workers have not only looked for ways to earn a living elsewhere during working hours but have also downed their tools on several occasions.

In the recent past, members of the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union, Uganda Medical Association, allied health professionals, medical laboratory technicians, and medical interns have downed their tools over poor pay.

Donors and health experts have previously expressed concern over the chronic understaffing in the health sector, a challenge that they said continues to deny Ugandans access to quality and timely healthcare services. Uganda requires a workforce of about 342,832 medical workers as opposed to the current 155,000 medical workers, according to the Ministry of Health. The late delivery of essential medicines, expiry of drugs, and acute stock-outs continue to hinder the operations of many health centres across the country.

These, among others are the main challenges that keep health workers away from their workplaces. Biometric machines and CCTV cameras at health facilities can only solve so much. We need to deal with the real causes of absenteeism.