The district nursing officer in Kabarole, Western Uganda has observed that the district could fail to hit its target of immunizing 17,338 children under one for the year 2011-2012 – and has blamed a “lack of commitment” from staff for the failing.
Speaking to journalists, Elizabaeth Maanimake, said: “Our health workers are not committed, they are always absent, do not follow the immunization matrix, which could hamper our efforts as a district to immunize those children before they celebrate their first birthday.”
However, John Baguma, a health worker from Kiko health centre, strongly contested Maanimake’s view. He said: “Those are baseless accusations, we are committed to serving the people. We immunise children every Wednesday and every day the staff are available. However, in some places the health units are ill staffed and when the only nurse or two are away then the services will not be delivered and the blame goes to the health officer.”
Maanimake said health workers need to be committed even with minimal resources and supervision in order for quality health services to be delivered to the community. She said the work of “reducing laziness and absenteeism among health workers” is not a one man job but needs collective effort. She challenged health workers to “have a sense of responsibility and work toward satisfying the community” and promised to strengthen the supervision in health facilities to ensure that health workers fulfil their work.
Maanimake urged the public to continue to take immunization seriously as it is one of the strategies of reducing child mortality. She commended the public for having adhered positively to immunization messages.
The infant mortality ratio stands at 86/1000 children in Kabarole district which must be reduced.
