Police Chief IGP Martins Okoth Ocholas has appeared in public for the first time in months following weeks of speculation on his health.
A recent statement by police spokesperson had indicated Ochola was neither on oxygen nor hospitalized.
On September 24, the police chief presided over the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Directorate of Police Health Services at Police Headquarters at Naguru in Kampala.
The AGM was held under the theme ‘Improving and Standardising Health Service Delivery in Uganda Police Force (UPF) through strengthening Human Resource.’
Here is what Ochola said in his first public appearance in months:
I take this opportunity to welcome you all for this opening of the Uganda Police Health Services Annual General Meeting where you intend to discuss the role of the Uganda Police Health Services and the challenges the Directorate faces as it continues to evolve.
I would like to begin by thanking the Director of the Uganda Police Health Services and your team for organizing this specific meeting. Meetings are important because its only through such fora that officers have the opportunity to exchange ideas and discuss how the Directorate or Institution can achieve its Mission and Vision.
Similarly, I thank all of you in the medical profession for your hard work and commitment especially during this challenging time of the COVID- 19 pandemic. You have been our frontline force and have risked your own health to save the lives of our enforcement officers and other Ugandans through health education, sanitization/disinfection, vaccination campaigns and treatment of Covid-19 victims. One other important attribute was that you were available to offer technical advice to allay fears and myths about Corona virus especially in the early days of the disease.
Equally, there are various benefits that the police community has gained from the customized health care of the Police Health Services not found in other facilities such as; evacuation of officers and family members during accidents, visiting patients at home and in hospitals not forgetting attending to officers and families at all police clinics at no cost.
For the Medico-legal services, Police health centres and doctors have been vital in examining suspects, injured persons, victims of Gender Based Violence and performing postmortems.
The Police management is grateful and we have a lot of trust in you as our own medical staff regarding discipline, honesty and ethics among others given that almost all of you are police officers. Therefore, high levels of integrity are still required in the execution of your daily work since your professional call involves saving lives of people or making key decisions. Consequently, as Police health workers, you should never exhibit any corrupt tendencies.
As Police Management, we take serious note of the challenges faced in the execution of your duties, but promise that we shall continue putting in place measures to ensure that you have the necessary protective equipment needed to perform your tasks, remain safe and stay alive.
Relatedly, the UPF Management has embarked on capacity building of the Directorate of Health Services by targeting professional training, promotions and recruitment of more health workers among others.
As we move forward, the Police leadership has plans to recruit more health workers in this financial year, purchase more ambulances to improve on the current fleet, construction of a police general hospital at Nsambya barracks and the establishment of a police clinic at every Police district or major police stations.
As I conclude, I thank you once again for organizing this meeting and it is essential that you discuss freely and bring forward the best ideas and innovations to support the development of the Police Health Services and the entire Uganda Police Force.
