Mulago National Referral Hospital is operating at 58% of its required staffing capacity, leaving a 42% workforce gap due to limited funds for recruitment.
The hospital's Assistant Commissioner for Human Resources told Parliament's Public Accounts Committee on November 2, 2026, that recruitment is only done when existing staff retire or pass away because the hospital has no wage budget to recruit additional personnel.
"You wait until somebody retires, and you replace. You wait for somebody to pass on, and you replace," the official told the committee.
The disclosure highlights staffing challenges at Uganda's largest national referral hospital, where recruitment remains dependent on vacancies created by staff departures.