More than 900 medical interns in public hospitals across the country have again gone on strike over delayed allowances and chronic lack of medical supplies.

 

The interns who include nurses, doctors, midwives, dentists and pharmacists undergoing supervisory training to attain the annual training license say they continue to face the same challenges worsened by the heavy workload in their respective hospitals of training.

 

Dr Robert Lubega, the president of the Uganda Medical Interns 2017-2018 said their colleagues in Soroti Regional Referral Hospital have, for instance, never been paid their allowance since December last year with no satisfactory response from the ministry of Health.

 

"As medical interns 2017-2018, we thus lay down our tools as we await government response towards our plight. Through the engagement of our leadership umbrella, the medical intern's executive, we will be glad to continue engagement with the various stakeholders for improved welfare," Dr Lubega told journalists in Kampala on Wednesday.

 

Although the interns joined other medical doctors last year to resume work on the promise to improve the situation following a three week strike, Dr Kavuma said:" there has been no commitment and will to fully implement what was agreed upon in the stakeholders' dialogue that were held."

 

However, government has since fulfilled its promise to increase the medical interns' monthly allowances from Shs750, 000 to Shs950, 000.

 

Patients get stranded at different government hospitals whenever medical interns lay down their tools.

 

However, Ms Sarah Opendi, the minister of State for Health (General Duties) said there was no reason for interns to cause alarm since consultations in which they are involved are already underway to have their policy that will address their challenges including the perennial delayed allowances.

 

"About the payment of interns, we have been paying them quarterly and as you know they rotate every quarter to a different centre [hospital] so we must get lists from their centres to know which interns they have before payments are made... so the payments for this quarter delayed because we got these lists late from those hospitals where these interns are based," she explained.

 

Ms Opendi also said that the ministry was aware that the health sector has got challenges including drug shortage but it should not be a reason for interns to strike.

By Lilian Namagembe | The Monitor.