Govt to validate all health workers amid misdiagnosis concerns
“We are planning to verify and validate all information. We want the new reforms that I, as Dr Olaro, will identify myself with my name tag and my title or whatever I am,” Olaro said.
Prof Charles Olaro, the Director General of Health Services at the Ministry of Health. (File photo)
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The Ministry of Health is planning to verify and validate all health workers in Uganda as part of reforms aimed at improving patient safety and tackling quackery in public and private health facilities.
The move will require health workers to clearly identify themselves by their names and professional titles, according to Prof. Charles Olaro, the director general of health services at the Ministry of Health.
Speaking at a pre-Patient Safety Day press conference ahead of the observance on September 17, 2026, Olaro said the reforms were being considered amid concerns about diagnostic errors, inappropriate treatment and other practices that can expose patients to harm.
“We are planning to verify and validate all information. We want the new reforms that I, as Dr Olaro, will identify myself with my name tag and my title or whatever I am,” Olaro said.
He said the requirement would apply across the health sector, including private facilities, where the ministry is also strengthening supervision.
“A medical officer will identify themselves, and they must explain to the patient exactly what they are doing, and a patient has a right to know everything being done,” he said.
The proposed validation comes as the ministry is also seeking to address misdiagnosis, which Olaro described as one of the major questions facing the health sector. He said diagnostic errors can occur for several reasons and should not automatically be attributed to an individual health worker.
“Diagnostic errors are really not a fault of a single individual. They usually stem from a combination of complex factors,” Olaro said.
He cited malaria as an example, saying a patient presenting with fever in Uganda is likely to first be assessed for malaria because of its high burden in the country.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, fever could similarly lead to an initial diagnosis of malaria rather than COVID-19, while other infectious diseases can also present with similar symptoms.
Olaro said some conditions can only be confirmed using specialised laboratory or imaging tests. A patient may therefore undergo several investigations that produce negative results before the appropriate diagnostic test is eventually performed.
He said diagnostic errors can also arise from incomplete patient histories, short consultations, patients seeing different doctors and errors in interpreting medical images.
“When you move from one person today and move to another person tomorrow, everybody starts from nowhere, from zero,” he said, warning that in the process the disease may continue to progress.
He urged patients to provide detailed information about when symptoms began, how they have changed and what triggers them, rather than focusing only on what they are experiencing on the day of consultation.
He also encouraged patients to ask questions about their diagnosis and seek a second opinion where necessary.
The ministry’s proposed validation is part of a broader push to strengthen patient safety.
Dr Munanura Turyasiima, a principal medical officer in the ministry’s Department of Standards Compliance, Accreditation, and Patient Protection, said patient safety includes preventing errors, harm and risks throughout the process of receiving care.
Turyasiima said delayed diagnosis can occur when a patient’s history is poorly taken, inappropriate investigations are conducted, or the findings are incorrectly interpreted.
He said patient safety therefore requires action from health workers, patients, health facilities, government and other stakeholders. The ministry is also seeking to strengthen oversight of private health facilities through reforms covering licensing, registration, training and health worker performance.
Olaro said digitalisation of the health system would further enable the ministry to monitor prescription practices and identify health workers involved in inappropriate prescribing, including polypharmacy.
He said the government also intends to tighten controls on the use of intravenous treatment in outpatient settings, citing risks associated with patients receiving intravenous therapy while moving between facilities.
The ministry is additionally promoting early screening and preventive care as part of efforts to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases.
Turyasiima said the country is facing a growing burden of conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer and obesity, making early detection and safe treatment increasingly important.
Olaro also announced progress on Uganda’s cancer diagnostic capacity, saying the PET-CT scanner project at the Uganda Cancer Institute is expected to be completed in November and become operational by December 1 this year.
He said the project will later include two additional diagnostic scans and a cyclotron by 2027, followed by proton therapy by June 2028.
The developments, he said, are intended not only to improve diagnosis and treatment but also to strengthen Uganda’s capacity to provide specialised services locally.