KAMPALA – The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, has called on Members of Parliament to advocate for the reopening of health centre IIs in their constituencies.
Kadaga made the call at the opening of a workshop organised by the Parliamentary Forum on Immunisation on Thursday, 15 April 2021 at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Kampala.
“This meeting has come at an important time when the government machinery has decided that development will be at the parish level. It is good news to me because I was not happy with the closure of health centre IIs in many parishes.
I represent a rural constituency and people have to walk long distances to access health services. Since the government has decided on its own that the parish is the first place of development, we need to advocate for the return of health centre IIs,” she said.
Kadaga added that the public sometimes criticises MPs for not working enough, forgetting that advocacy though very crucial, cannot be measured.
“If you engage in an advocacy campaign in your constituency, then people will listen to you and follow suit. So, let us embrace the COVID-19 vaccine and encourage them to take their children for immunisation,” she said.
The District Woman Representative for Buyende, and also chair of the immunisation forum, Hon. Veronica Babirye Kadogo, said that they are optimistic about bringing change through collaborating with legislators.
Dr Alfred Driwale, the Assistant Commissioner for Vaccines and Immunisation, who represented of the Minister of Health, said it was important to celebrate the milestones they had achieved with immunisation.
