Results from the latest poll by the Government Citizen Interaction Centre (GCIC) have exposed holes in the quality of service delivered by workers in government health facilities.
According to the poll, only 30 percent of the people who visited the health facilities in the last 12 months think that nurses were friendly, caring and concerned.
The other remaining 70 percent however say that the services offered and the concern showed by the health workers was poor as per what they expected.
The various responses to the poll pointed at Mulago National Referral Hospital and other Health centres from upcountry districts, most of them saying the services are poor, the health workers are always absent while others praised the good service which they received.
“I last visited a government hospital two years back in Rukungiri but I never found nurses at the hospital at around 11am,” said Brian Katabazi.
“I visited Mulago Hospital, all other services were good. Dental services asked for money before any service,” said Ronald Angarukamu in his response.
Matia Mubangizi praised the service and care received at one KCCA health centre in Kisenyi, Kampala, which he said was ‘amazing.’
Commenting about the results, Morrison Rwakakamba, the GCIC head said its true that such challenges as these exist in health service delivery although they are not only limited to the health sector.
“Corporate culture is not yet embedded in most public sector institutions. Most civil servants behave like bosses when serving citizens,” he told ChimpReports.
Rwakakamba noted that ; “it will take a protracted and adaptive approach to change current attitudes and tendencies in our public sector.”
“Nurses are rude but not all of them. Some are great and making things happen but more work needs to be done,” he said.
The GCIC serves as a primary contact point between the government and the citizenry, collecting feedback from the public about service delivery and relaying it to the responsible government agencies.