The Uganda Medical Association(UMA) has again asked the government to communicate a clear timetable for the deployment of medical interns.
The association warned that the already delayed deployment of interns might lead to the collapse of the country’s medical sector.
The call came after the ministry of Finance last week said that the government would allocate Shs 220 billion to resolve the plight of medical interns and doctors designated as senior house officers.
Ina statement, the president of UMA, Dr. Edith Nakku-Joloba requested the Ministry of Finance to complete the needed plans and documentation with the Ministry of Health to expedite this matter and to speedily and urgently deploy the medical pre-interns.
“The already delayed but key and necessary deployment will restore the flow of the medical training that has been choked and threatened, which delay can lead to the collapse of the country’s medical sector,” she said.
Dr. Nakku said there should not be any further delay in the deployment of these medical doctors in a country where they are so needed.
“We request the Ministry of Finance together with the Ministry of Health to provide and expeditiously communicate clear timelines on the dates of deployment of medical interns, with contracts.” she said.
She requested that this information should immediately be avoided to avoid further delays given that more graduates are soon coming and this will cause more distress among the fresh graduates.
“The urgent deployment of interns with the approved payments as per the Presidential directives of 2021 and the guidance from the Office of the President and the Ministry of health is critical to ensure continued provision of health service to the public in Uganda,” she noted.
She noted that the contribution of medical interns is very critical in the prevention and reduction of maternal death and infant mortality due to emergency conditions, preventable and treatable illness.
“We thank the government of Uganda and the Ministry of Finance for providing 22.6 billion required to pay the arrears for the senior house officers in the first year and continuing years, a request we have been making since February 2023. This is a very good gesture and very much appreciated,” she said.
The association also applauded the government for providing funds to pay the outgoing interns who just concluded their internship and the Ministry of Finance for the stated and signed commitment in the government Budget speech of 2023/2024 “to resolve the plight of medical interns and senior house officers in a few weeks”.
Medical interns do supervised medical work for one year (medical internship) which is a mandatory working stage for all graduated medical doctors, nurses and pharmacists to work in the whole world.
During that time, registered medical personnel are supervised by their seniors in various disciplines and give full medical care but under supervision. Thereafter they become fully licensed.
A good number of recently graduated medical students in Uganda also referred to as pre-interns, concluded their education successfully in May 2022 and in February 2023 and have since been waiting at home for 12 months.
Others have been waiting for three months now to join a medical internship to work under this mandatory supervision, to get their full licenses and start working independently.
The huge patient to doctor gap in Uganda of 1 doctor to 20,000 patients, is partly covered by these junior house officers and senior house officers, according to medics.
Doctors have called for a commitment from the government to ensure that the current cohort of pre-medical interns is enrolled in hospitals to contribute to the provision of health care and also meet one of the cardinal requirements for the full qualification.