Planned strike: Put patients first, govt tells doctors

The Ministry of Health has asked doctors not to go ahead with their planned strike today saying they should put patients first.

“Patience pays. The issues raised by Uganda Medical Association (UMA) are being handled. A supplementary budget to implement the presidential directive is being processed after being passed by Parliament. They should follow their professional calling by putting patients first,” Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the ministry’s spokesperson, said in a tweet yesterday.

Doctors under their umbrella the UMA said in a statement yesterday that their strike starts effective midnight because it is the language government seems to understand most.

The doctors had in an August 6 letter asked the government to increase their salary, improve physical infrastructure in public health facilities such as intensive care units, put a robust system to ensure uninterrupted supply of medicines and personal protective equipment, and avail more ambulances for Covid-19 case management, among others.

In their statement, the doctors said: “Until all the above demands are met, industrial action will be our only form of negotiation as per the Constitution and relevant labour laws.”

President Museveni had in an August 9 letter, which was addressed to the Prime Minister and the ministries of Health, Finance, and Public Service, directed that the monthly pay for intern doctors be increased from Shs750,000 to Shs2.5m.

The President’s letter came after 1,403 medical interns across the country went on a sit-down strike in May over low pay and poor working conditions. The interns said they have never received the increment.

Agreement

President Museveni had in a separate meeting in June at State House Entebbe told the doctors that each of them would get Shs5 million as a starting salary from July, reaffirming his earlier position.

Currently, a medical officer earns Shs3m and a senior consultant Shs7.3m. In an earlier agreement with the medical workers, Mr Museveni had agreed to pay professors Shs15m, senior medical consultants (Shs17m), lecturers (Shs12.2m), and doctors (Shs5m).