Uganda is in a surgeon crisis - Makerere professor

By Godfrey Ojore

Uganda is overwhelmingly short of surgeons to the extent that most surgeries are performed by clinical officers, a Makerere University professor says.

Delivering a keynote address during the annual scientific conference of surgeons under their umbrella body Association of Surgeons of Uganda (ASOU), Prof. Sam Luboga revealed that the country has lost more senior surgeons to the outside world where they are highly paid.

He said it is hard to believe that in most parts of the country, it is the clinical officers that carry out surgical operations.

He explained that Ugandan surgeons are not motivated enough to keep around and that most opt to pursue their careers abroad, where the pay is far much higher.

 “Now you will find that most of the surgeons are ageing and yet there are few who are coming to take over from them,” he pointed out.

The surgeons have been conducting free operations in Teso from which a number of people have benefited at a zero cost.

“We have been in all the hospitals in Teso sub-region and we concluded work yesterday. We have operated people with hydrocele [scrotal swelling], goiters, anemia among others,” Dr. Fred Kirya, the coordinator of the association told New Vision.