In the quiet villages of Budaka, the promise of quality healthcare is being eroded, not just by medicine shortages or underfunding, but by something far more basic – a place for health workers to live.
At most health facilities, the few available staff quarters are overcrowded, and some health workers are forced to rent or trek long distances to reach their duty stations.
“We cannot realize the vision to have a healthy and productive population that contributes to economic growth and national development when some of these challenges are not addressed,” said Dr Elisa Mulwani, the District Health Officer (DHO).
According to Dr Mulwani, the district has a projected population of 291,391 people, and there is a shortage of staff accommodation, with most facilities able to accommodate only 2 critical staff members.
The health sector staffing level stands at 26 per cent as per the new staffing structure and 78 per cent as per the old staffing structure.
The status of health facility staff accommodation is dire, with some health centers having only one or two units.
For instance, Iki-Iki health center III has only two units, Lyama health center III has one, and Naboa health center III has two.
Some sub-counties, including Tademerii Kamonkoli, Kakoli, Iki-Iki Kachomo, and Kabuna, have no accommodation at all.
The effects of this shortage are far-reaching, with health facilities struggling to operate 24-hour services, leaving patients unattended during nights and weekends.
This has contributed to delays in maternal care, increased referrals, and preventable deaths.
“The severe shortage of staff accommodation continues to undermine service delivery and morale among health workers,” said Mr Emmanuel Pajje, the Budaka District chairman.
‘The severe shortage of staff accommodation, continues to undermine service delivery and morale among health workers’ he said.
The Ministry of Health acknowledges the national shortage of health staff accommodations, estimating that a greater percentage of rural health workers in Uganda lack housing units.
However, progress in addressing the problem has been slow due to the limited budget envelope.
The Budaka district Planner, Mr Shaban Kabise, said that the FY 2026/27 budget will be the second year of implementing NDP1V and the corresponding fourth district local government development plan, which is the first plan to deliver the tenfold Growth strategy and the last plan to deliver Agenda 2030 of the sustainable development goals [SDGs].
According to the first budget call circular issued on September 15, 2025, the district resource envelop as per the MTEF allocations was Shs34.782.303.322 and this was broken into as Wage expenditure allocation for both programme conditional and the district unconditional was Shs22,283.431.955 and development Shs2.203.191.224
However, the envelope is pushed to Shs37,087,364,877 by funds from locally raised revenues, other transfers from Central Government and external financing.