UMA tasks govt to find Shs18b for medical interns

The Uganda Medical Association (UMA) has called for a Shs18.5 billion supplementary budget to deploy all eligible medical degree holders for internships.

During a press conference at Mulago yesterday, Dr Herbert Luswata, the UMA president, urged the Health and Education ministries to plan properly for medical students to prevent recurring strikes by senior house officers and medical interns.

“We are alarmed by the government’s failure to deploy more than 1,500 medical interns who qualified in 2023 and 2024. These include doctors, dental surgeons, as well as nursing, midwifery, and pharmacy graduates,” Dr Luswata stated.

He emphasised that despite available internship placements, the Ministry of Health has cited a budget shortfall of 18.5 billion Ugandan shillings as the main barrier to deployment. 

“This is unacceptable, especially considering the consistent underfunding of the health sector,” he added.

The UMA called for the immediate allocation of supplementary funds by Parliament for intern deployment.

Dr Joel Mirembe, the UMA secretary-general, expressed his concern: “We were shocked by the deployment of only 1,263 interns. The minister later promised to increase the number to 1,500, but this still leaves about 1,207 undeployed.”

“We believe we live in a rich country, capable of allocating Shs300 billion to Roko and billions to Pearl of Africa hotels, which do not provide essential social services like these interns,” he remarked.

Dr Ekwaro Obuku, the former UMA president, suggested that the government should handle the youth well and capitalise on the large number of doctors trained in Uganda.

“We can export the doctors abroad to earn foreign exchange by sending them to countries such as Europe and Canada,” he proposed.