Assessing moonlighting of health workers in Uganda: a case of Mulago Hospital

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of moonlighting at Mulago Hospital in Uganda. The study was guided by three specific objectives which included; to examine the factors that lead to moonlighting among medical professionals at Mulago, to assess the effects of moonlighting at Mulago Hospital and to propose potential measures aimed at reducing moonlighting in Mulago Hospital. The study adopted a cross sectional research design that involved the use of mainly quantitative research method as the only research instrument which was measured on a five-point Likert scale. The preference for a cross-sectional research design was because it collects information from a random sample that has been drawn from different categories of the population at a point in time. This was applied on a sample size of 265 respondents using questionnaires and 257 were returned correctly filled representing 96.9%. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 16 and it was presented inform of means and standard deviations. The results indicated that one of the major factors that lead health workers to moonlight was the ever-increasing cost of living which cannot be met by their low salary. It further revealed that other factors such as the need to acquire more skills and experience in their profession, the need to reduce on the impact of taxes charged on their salaries from their primary jobs, inadequate sundries, drugs and personal protective equipment and inadequate motivation among health workers led them to moonlight. Regarding the effects, the results indicated that it is mostly the patients who are affected since they don’t receive treatment in time. Health workers also hardly get enough time to spend with their family members among others. The results indicated that the most appropriate strategies to reduce moonlighting were ensuring routine promotion of the health workers, motivating them through paying them allowances where they meet their targets, increasing their salaries to meet the ever-increasing cost of living and providing more training opportunities for them to acquire more skills and expertise. The study made recommendations based on the findings of the study and these include Mulago Hospital should enhance health worker’s salaries to meet the ever-increasing cost of living through paying them allowances, ensuring routine promotion based on merit, availing training opportunities to enable health workers to improve on their skills, expertise and career development, recognize and reward high performing health workers. It should also provide the necessary PPE, sundries, drugs and other associated materials to be used by health workers in doing their day to day activities in the Hospital.