- Each intern needs a net monthly allowance of 2.5 million Ugandan shillings for food and accommodation.
- Medical interns are unlicensed doctors who perform most duties as licensed ones but under supervision.
- Museveni’s proposal comes amidst government delays in deploying the medical students to start their internships.
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has said the government has no sufficient money to support medical interns during their internship, proposing that sponsors who facilitated them during the five years of study should also take responsibility for funding the one-year internship period.
According to Uganda Radion Network, over 1,900 medical interns from different medical schools are deployed across 58 internship centres across the country.
Until last year, deployed medical interns, including doctors, pharmacists, and nurses, were earning a net monthly allowance of 2.5 million Ugandan shillings to facilitate their feeding and accommodation.
However, the government reduced the amount to one million shillings per month. Despite this, payments were often delayed, resulting in frequent strikes and protests by the interns.
A 2021 presidential directive mandated that medical interns be paid 2.7 million Ugandan shillings, intern pharmacists 2.7 million shillings, intern midwives and nurses 2.2 million shillings and intern dental surgeon doctors 2.7 million shillings.
Also read: Uganda Medical Interns Blocked From Ministry HQ, Demand Deployment
“Who pays for the internship? Some people are saying that the government must pay, but I think that is risky because the government would pay if it had money. But it doesn’t have enough money since it has got a lot of things to do like roads, security etc. I don’t think it is okay to tie the future of our young doctors with government funding because it may delay or it may not be there,” Museveni said.
The president made the comments at State House Entebbe while addressing 210 post-medical interns who had just completed a 10-day patriotism and ideological training at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi.
Museveni’s proposal comes amidst government delays in deploying the medical students to start their internships.
“If it was the government, loan scheme or State House or your parents sponsoring, let them continue so that you do the internship, if you do that, you remove the issue of waiting for government money. The government must also hire enough consultants to supervise you. If we do this, I think it will make the work much easier,” Museveni said.
In the FY 2024/25 budget, 35 billion shillings was allocated for the new cohorts of medical interns. However, nearly two months into the financial year, the government has yet to release these funds, preventing the ministry of Health from deploying interns to various hospitals and health centres across the country.
Also read: Plight Of Medical Interns In East Africa
Museveni urged medical professionals to support his efforts of increasing the health budget which would enable the government to create more positions at health centre IIIs and IVs to absorb as many doctors as possible. He also pledged financial support for qualified doctors to establish private health facilities, acknowledging that not all can be employed in government facilities. Additionally, he encouraged them to consider joining the army and police as medical professionals.
Minister for the Presidency Babirye Milly Babalanda commended the Patriotism Secretariat for successfully conducting the training program for post-medical interns. “This is a unique and strategic category that has been gladly added to our program,” Babalanda said.
On behalf of the post-medical interns, David Mugyema expressed gratitude to President Museveni for his “unwavering support to medical practitioners and role in transforming Uganda through education.”
