Address medics’ pay raise demands

Medical practitioners under their professional association of the Uganda Medical Association have warned that they will lay down their tools come October 6 should government fail to address their pay raise demands.

The medics through their association president, Dr Richard Idro, claim to have given government a three months’ notice, warning of industrial action should they fail to yield to their demands.

He also said government has a tendency of taking action at the last moment when they have already commenced their industrial action, whose effects are very fatal.

The medical association has for the past 21 months written letters, met with and engaged the relevant government ministries to discuss critical health systems gaps including human capital development and other challenging issues and especially challenges brought about by Covid-19 pandemic.

Industrial actions are permissible for aggrieved employees and the same is granted by the Constitution.
However, medical practitioners shouldn’t be let to lay down their tools because their absence from work even for a minute culminates in loss of human life, which is sacred.

So we can’t afford losing lives just because medical practitioners are not being paid sufficiently.
Given the crucial role played by medical practitioners, they should be the most paid government employees because they save our lives irrespective of one’s status in society since at any given time, you may need their services.

There might be those who argue that since they receive their treatment abroad, they therefore mind less about the looming industrial action by the medics.

Well, we have seen some top government officials craving very urgent medical attention to save their lives and their specialists abroad can’t be of help at that moment.

President Museveni has on several occasions directed that scientists, university lecturers and health workers be paid salary to the agreed levels.  For example, it was proposed that entry level wages for a medical officer be Shs5m and a senior consultant be Shs17m with the rest of the cadres’ pay be increased accordingly.

However, our priorities are upside down. To date, despite the presidential directives, the medical workers still earn peanuts of between Shs750, 000 (intern doctors) to Shs5m (for a senior consultant). We have lost so many lives this year due to Covid-19 pandemic and its associated effects; we can’t afford to lose more lives whose deaths can be prevented.

Equally, we call upon government to recruit more medical staff since only 40 percent of the positions are filled and yet many young doctors are unemployed.

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