Gulu Referral Hospital Continues to Grapple with Staff Shortages

Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, one of the largest public health facilities in the Acholi Sub-region continue to grapple with a limited number of staff, a recent report by the Auditor General has revealed.

For the past two financial years, reports of the auditor general exposed the dire staffing gap at the health facility which serves the general vulnerable population in the Acholi Sub-region and beyond. 

For instance, in the auditor general’s report for the financial year 2022/23, out of 485 approved positions at the hospital, a total of 339 positions were filled leaving a gap of 146 vacant positions.

The recent report by the auditor general for the financial year 2023/24 however shows that out of 532 approved positions on traditional staff establishment, a total of 324 positions remain vacant.

Walter Uryek-Wun, the Principal Assistant Secretary at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital told Uganda Radio Network in an interview that the staff shortages continue to negatively impact the service delivery to patients at the facility.

Uryek-Wun noted that in the last financial year, the Health Ministry approved a new staffing structure from the usual 450 to 1,195 adding that since it had just come into force, most of the positions couldn’t be filled.

He admitted that nearly all the positions at the facility haven’t been 100 percent filled with the most critical being the specialist’s positions which to date some remain vacant.

Some of the positions that have few or is vacant according to Uryewk-wun are senior consultants, surgeons, general practitioners, and medical assistants.

“The Ministry of Public Health and Health Service Commission is working to see how to have them filled. We are hopeful this may be possible by the end of this financial year 2024/25 or the start of the new financial year 2025/26,” said Uryek-Wun.

He acknowledged that the limited staff especially specialists have on many occasions forced the hospital to refer patients to other facilities for better medical treatment. For instance, according to the 2022/23 budget performance report, Gulu Regional Referral Hospital made referrals of 100 patients out of the 1,500 patients it received at the Outpatient department (OPD).

“We only have three consultants now at the hospital and if you add the Senior Executive Consultant, it comes to four. This puts us at a level where we can’t do much, yet we are overwhelmed, and we have to make referrals on certain conditions now. It disadvantages us because the clientele is big,” he said. According to the budget

The Hospital in the last financial year prioritized the recruitment of senior consultants according to Uryek-Wun after receiving 600 million shillings from the Finance Ministry.

“When we were given the 600 million shillings offer, as Gulu Regional Referral Hospital we also opted to fill the consultants which to us looked more of a need than filling for example the Askaris or kitchen attendants but of course, the need (human resource) is still high,” said Uryek-Wun.

Alfred Okwonga, Gulu City Council Mayor noted that the staff shortages have persisted for a long time which in turn affects the vulnerable population from getting adequate medical services. He appealed to the health Ministry to consider requests from the Hospital on recruiting the essential medical personnel.

//Cue in: “There is outcry…

Cue out:…is still wanting.”//

According to a report of the Parliamentary Committee on Health on the status of Health Services in Northern Uganda delivered in August 2024, Gulu Regional Referral Hospital had an approved staffing structure of 1,195 staff. However, only 352 staff positions were filled representing 29 percent staffing level.

Certain key positions such as Senior Consultant had no staff out of the 40 required, while the consultant position had only one staff out of 52 approved.

The report also indicated that out of the 426 nursing and midwifery staff positions, only 142 were filled.