Export Health Workers? For Uganda, An Indecent Proposal Until…

Abstract

This paper challenges the decision by the Government of Uganda to export health workers to developed countries. It argues that while the Ugandan National Health Policy emphasises strengthening the numbers of health personnel in order to be able to provide a minimum health care package and to redress the imbalances in distribution of skilled staff, it is totally contradictory to start exporting the few personnel available. The paper acknowledges that there are high rates of unemployment in the country and that there are well-recognised benefits of migration of skilled personnel. It also acknowledges that Ugandan health workers have always been on the exodus. However, it also asserts that given the inadequate human resource for health capacity of the country, the government has no justification facilitating the exodus by providing a platform for foreign headhunters of health workers. Finally, it points out some problems that are likely to arise from this untimely export of health workers as well as some measures that the country could adopt to maximize the benefit from Uganda's migrant workers.