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One-third of Uganda's population excluded from healthcare system: Report

WION Web Team
Kampala, UgandaUpdated: Jun 09, 2021, 06:16 PM IST
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Photograph:(Reuters)

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While almost a third of the population does not own cards, some of them who do have these ID cards are unable to use them as they have errors in them

As Uganda shifted to digital identity cards, nearly one-third of the adults in the African country have been excluded from getting proper access to healthcare and social services.

The National Identification and Registration Authority (Nira) had introduced ID cards in 2015. However, a report has revealed that nearly 23 to 33 per cent of the adult population does not have these ID cards till now.

These ID cards are necessary to access government and private healthcare facilities, to claim social benefits, to vote, buy sim cards and even to open bank accounts.

While almost a third of the population does not own cards, some of them who do have these ID cards are unable to use them as they have errors in them.

To rectify these errors, the cost incurred would be 50,000 Ugandan shillings (£10), but more than 40 per cent of the population lives on less than £1.30 per day, which makes it near to impossible for the locals to get the errors rectified.

Through this report, the human rights organisations are urging the Uganda government to remove the requirement of ID cards to gain access to essential services and healthcare.

"Government has to go back to the drawing table and rethink the use of Ndaga Muntu, especially when it comes to tagging it to service delivery, because many people are being left out," said Angella Nabwowe, of the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights, one of the organisations that produced the report.