Arua hospital doctor Candia not suspended — health ministry
In a public statement issued on Friday (October 16), the ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr Diana Atwine, said the Government of Uganda has established procedures for handling disciplinary matters and any such action must follow the applicable public service procedures.
Arua Regional Referral Hospital. (File photo)
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The Ministry of Health has clarified that Dr Robert Candia of Arua Regional Referral Hospital has not been suspended and continues to perform his duties.
This is after a viral video of the state minister for health in charge of general duties, Anifa Kawooya, suspending Candia for pocketing while speaking to her during her spot checks on the hospital recently.
In a public statement issued on Friday (October 16), the ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr Diana Atwine, said the Government of Uganda has established procedures for handling disciplinary matters and any such action must follow the applicable public service procedures.
“I encourage all health professionals to uphold the highest professional standards and remain focused on providing quality, uninterrupted healthcare to the millions of Ugandans who seek services at our health facilities,” she said.
Atwine also said the ministry remains committed to constructive engagement with health workers while upholding accountability and ensuring quality patient care.
“For God and my country,” she signed off.
However, her decision to suspend the doctor caused an uproar on social media.
The Uganda Medical Association (UMA) issued a statement demanding an immediate rescission of the decision, strict adherence to statutory procedures if any genuine administrative inquiry is warranted, and an immediate halt to "political theatrics" in health centres across the country.
“Respect for the dignity of health workers and fidelity to the rule of law are non-negotiable,” Dr Frank Asiimwe, the UMA president, said.
He noted that their doctors operate under brutal working conditions.
“To subject a clinician to public humiliation and summary administrative punishment over vanity trivialities demeans the entire medical fraternity and sabotages health worker morale.”
Dr Asiimwe also noted that supervision and accountability are indispensable, but they must remain constructive, structured and executed by technically competent, mandate-bearing bodies within the Ministry of Health.
The former minister and MP, Dr Kenneth Omona, also implored Kawooya to rescind her decision suspending the doctor.
He described Candia as a disciplined and always smiling doctor.
Omona explained that the clinical coat has very many uses to a clinician.
"I won’t enumerate them, but one of them is what I have witnessed over the years: when a doctor is exhausted, instead of leaning against a wall or sitting down, many times he/she chooses to rest his/her hands in the lower coat pockets to find balance and rest on his/her feet, can you imagine,” he told the minister.
He also said doctors rest their hands in the lower coat pockets to keep their hands from hanging everywhere and falling in contact with the surfaces on the ward, and to keep them fairly clean before touching to examine another client, disinfect and keep again.
Omona said this develops into a habit among health workers who work for long hours or teaching, something that is common among senior health workers.
“Please, please, let me plead for Dr Chadia, he is that nice son of yours. Try and find out. Again, sometimes health workers use those white pockets to hide their glove-powdered hands, not dirty as such. I bet you [that] you will meet many, including very senior doctors pocketing. I could be wrong, I am sorry, that’s just my humble but orthodox view,” he wrote.