Medical interns to lay down tools over delayed payment
Police officers arrest some of the several pre-medical interns who had organised a peaceful march to the president's office on May 15, 2023, protesting their delayed deployment. PHOTO/ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- Medical interns are qualified doctors, pharmacists and nurses subjected to a one-year mandatory placement in hospitals to get permanent practicing licenses from their respective professional bodies.
Medical interns under their umbrella body, Federation for Uganda Medical interns (FUMI), have given the ministry of health up to December 1 to clear their 3-month arrears.
In July, the ministry of health cleared and deployed over 1,900 medical interns at its 58 internship centers across the country, following rampant strikes and arrests over delayed deployments.
Speaking to the media, FUMI president Bill Adrati noted that they have engaged with the top management of the ministry of health to ensure allowances from August 2023 to December 2023 are reimbursed to hospitals are reimbursed by the end of November.
“Any medical intern site that has not received allowances for October, November and December by December 1 means that we are laying down tools in those facilities. We will not proceed with work because that is endangering the life of patients,” Adrati said on Sunday.
Medical interns are qualified doctors, pharmacists and nurses who need a one-year placement in hospitals to get permanent practicing licenses from their respective professional bodies.
According to Adrati, they are frontline health workers performing over 60 per cent work in the national referral hospitals.
In May 2023, a cabinet meeting resolved that payment for medical interns, which normally ranges from Shs1.5m to 2.5m, should be maintained to keep the young medical workers motivated as they handle patients.
National leader of senior health officers (SHOs) Robert Lubega claimed only 54 per cent of the agreed payment has been received from July to December.
“It’s absurd. Besides, senior officers get a pay cut from gross pay of Shs2.5m to a net pay of about shs1m which is a 46per cent pay cut without any communication from the government,” he added.
Lubega called for implementation of the October 9, 2021, presidential directive that senior officers should be paid at least Shs2.5m.
However, he decried the fact that some senior doctors who finished school in September 2023 were not included in the payment scheme.
FYI
Medical Internship is a one year training that post-university graduates of medicine and surgery, pharmacy, nursing and midwifery take after completion of their bachelor’s degree.
The training is done under supervision and a certificate is issued on completion. Thereafter, one can apply for a medical license to practice in the country as a professional.
