Dr. Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary of the Ugandan Ministry of Health, joined a Twitter Spaces last evening to respond to a social media campaign against the poor health system in the country.
Dr. Atwine joined the Spaces midway and provided logical answers, leaving the over 1,500 attendees, including the US Ambassador to Uganda H.E Natalie E. Brown, probably appreciative that she had done a good job.
She clarified that the health sector is underfunded to satisfy everyone and explained that the reason she had blocked Dr. Ssentongo was because the official handle of the Ministry of Health should be the best place to post all these issues.
Dr. Atwine joined the Spaces midway and provided logical answers, leaving the over 1,500 attendees, including the US Ambassador to Uganda H.E Natalie E. Brown, probably appreciative that she had done a good job.
She clarified that the health sector is underfunded to satisfy everyone and explained that the reason she had blocked Dr. Ssentongo was because the official handle of the Ministry of Health should be the best place to post all these issues.
But she assured Dr. Ssentongo that everything he posts is well-received and appreciated.
She urged him to concentrate on the Ministry of Health handle as it covers a wider audience and is received by all other key players. Dr. Atwine appreciated the conversation and welcomed more such conversations.
During her appearance, she discussed the issue of financing health and National Health Insurance as a solution to solve the problems in the health sector.
Dr. Atwine also highlighted the need for the carrot and the stick approach, where formal complaints with evidence must be lodged with the Medical Council for discipline to be meted out to errant healthcare workers. She emphasized the importance of evidence to prove the veracity of complaints and that hearsay is insufficient to hold someone accountable.
On deploying intern doctors protesting most of this week for lack of placement, Dr. Atwine explained that the ministry needs Shs. 80 billion to do so but the money is not yet available.