By George Aine
The Health Service Commission (HSC) on Wednesday conducted the first ever electronic interviews for health workers seeking to serve in government hospitals and health centres.
The interviewing exercise, which took place at Makerere University’s College of Computing and Information Science, saw 2,500 applicants turn up for the interviews.
“Previously, they used to be manual [interviews] where you had to print a lot of hard copies, they could leak and cost a lot of money. It also saves time as it would take us over two weeks to conduct manual interviews but we now take just two to three days,” said Dr. Pius Okong, the HSC chairperson, on Thursday which marked the second day of the interviewing exercise.
Ms. Florence Kiuunike, the head of Information, Computing and Technology support services said: “the electronic system is protected from hackers as it can only be accessed at the venue where the interviews are taken.”
Previously the manual system required applicants to take hard copies of their application letters to the HSC offices at Worker’s House in Kampala after which the shortlisted candidates would sit for interviews at Namboole Stadium.
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While launching the Electronic Recruitment System (ERS) in 2017, Mr R.aph Ochan, the chairperson of Public Service Commission, said it will majorly address administrative challenges such as time and costs as well as reduce personal interface to curb the possibility of corrupt tendencies.
How it works
A registered applicant can log in from anywhere in Uganda, using their national identification number (NIN) and be able to apply online, meaning those without national ID’s are not eligible
The ERS is accessed through vacancies.psc.go.ug where applicants create profiles and as well as upload their academic documents.
From here, the applicants will be able to view and apply for available jobs after which they shall be regularly notified by e-mails and SMS notifications about the status and progress of their applications.
The applicants who were subjected to the new electronic interview system comprise of enrolled nurses, laboratory assistants, laboratory technicians, nutritionists, record officers, medical records officers and medical social workers.
Other higher cadres like medical officers and consultant doctors as well as specialists who did interviews in May were interviewed using the old manual system, though.
These will be posted to different health facilities, specialized institutions like the Uganda Heart Institute (UHI), Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), and regional referral hospitals.
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