Nearly half of government health facilities in Nwoya district are functioning with less than 40% of the approved staffing level, putting strain on healthcare workers deployed amid rising demands for high-quality healthcare services, according to a report by the District Health Department.

Nwoya district has a total of 17 public facilities, including one general hospital, eight health centre IIIs and IIs respectively.

Statistics by the health department indicate that most positions in the health sector have remained unfilled for a long time due to the wage bill.

For instance, all 11 government health facilities in Nwoya County, of the 673 available positions, have only 247 filled.

This gap indicates the facilities are operating with only 36% of available positions filled.

This leaves a gap of 426 positions that have not been filled.

At Anaka General Hospital, of the 343 positions to be filled, only 174 have been recruited.

That means the hospital, the largest in the district, lacks 169 medical staff.

The facility receives nearly shs 600 million annually from the Ministry of Health in the Primary Health Care grant to run its activities.

A similar challenge is being faced by Purongo Health Centre III, where, of the available 43 positions, only 14 healthcare workers have been successfully recruited.

The district has failed to fill key positions such as nurses, clinical officers, midwives, doctors, and palliative care nurses.

The district was carved out of Amuru in 2008.

It currently has a population 220,593, who rely on less than 500 healthcare workers on government payroll.

The delays to fill the gap has been due to low wage bills by the Ministry of Public Service.

Dr. James Okello, the Nwoya District Health Officer, said they are not only facing staffing gap, but accommodation crisis among health staff too.

Dr. Okello said in some health facilities, workers have to either commute or share accommodation.

Addressing residents of Purongo town council during a community meeting organized by Hunger Project on Tuesday, Dr. Okello cited Purongo Health III, where six of the 14 staff have accommodation.

“Six staff at Purongo are sharing accommodation because we do not have enough staff houses,” he said.

Other challenges facing the health sector in Nwoya district are delay in supply of essential drugs.

Mary Abur, a resident of Purongo town council, said low staffing, healthcare workers who already got the job are not doing enough to help patients.

Abur cited an incident on August 21, 2026, where she went to Anaka General Hospital and received help from medical workers there.

“I went to Anaka Hospital and no doctor attended to me. It seems they only care about younger patients but not old ones like me,” she said.

Abur claims that she went to the hospital at around 7am and left at 6pm without being attended to

Nwoya DHO later apologised over the incident and urged Abur to ensure that she reports the matter to hospital’s administration so that it can be addressed.

Richard Matete, the Nwoya Chief Administrative Officer, said they are doing everything to ensure that more workers are recruited to fill the gap and improve service delivery.

Matete noted that through community meetings, feedback from the local residents will help them identify the gaps and address it.

Meanwhile, Michael Opwonya, Nwoya Assistant Resident District Commissioner, called on healthcare workers to work within their professional ethics despite the challenges they face at their place of work.

“It is very important to provide services to your patient despite all the challenges you face,” he urged healthcare workers.