Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has promised to increase lunch allowances for health workers in the country.

The president was speaking at the national celebrations for the International Day for Nurses and Midwives held at Kyamate secondary school playground in Ntungamo municipality on Sunday.

He was responding to calls by the president of Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union, Justus Cherop Chillingati who revealed that the Shs 2000 allowance is too small and called for its increment to Shs 15,000.

The president also revealed that the nurses will also be helped to focus on specialised training in a bid to improve service delivery. 

Museveni further charged the nurses to focus on service delivery above self, saying that the economy is still growing and cannot accommodate all their demands.

He revealed that issues such as roads and extension of electricity are also key and consume a big percentage of the national budget.

The nation’s health minister,  Dr Ruth Aceng said there are plans to continue training more nurses in the country. Although over 6,000 nurses are trained annually in Uganda there is still a significant short fall - with 1 nurse serving 11000 people in the country.

On May 12, countries around the world come together to celebrate the International Nurses Day (IND). The celebrations were held under the theme “Nurses a voice to lead – health is a human right”.