Fort portal healthy staff down tools over pay.

Patients at Fort Portal Hospital have been left unattended to after health workers at the facility decided to lay down their tools. “The hospital staff went on strike Tuesday, protesting what they claimed was a failure by the government to pay their salaries since April.

A visit around the facility by the Daily Monitor found some patients in the Out Patient Department and other wards being assisted by student trainees from Fort Portal School of Clinical Officers and Fort Portal International Nursing School while others were not supervised by any medical worker.

“Even though the students diagnosed us and recommended drugs, we still have nowhere to get the drugs because pharmacies at the hospital are closed most of us went back without drugs the only alternative is to buy from private pharmacies in town” one patient said.

Dr John Mali, the chairperson of the Uganda Medical Workers Union, confirmed the industrial action, adding that only emergency cases would be handled by a small team of staff.

“We cannot abandon patients in wards, the skeletal staff is to handle emergencies such as accidents and labour pains and others so that we cannot lose people’s lives and be charged of negligence” Dr Mali explained.

However, he said a meeting held last week with the management of the hospital had agreed to pay the arrears of the staff by June 7.