By Joel Mugabi
Pre-interns at Gulu University’s Faculty of Medicine have made it clear to authorities at their institution and at the Wandegeya-based Ministry of Health (MoH) that they will not step at their places of internship until their colleagues’ concerns have been addressed.
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On December 10, Director General of Health Services at MoH, Dr Henry Mwebesa, ordered all striking medical interns, whose industrial action is now in its fifth week, to vacate all hospital premises to pave way for an incoming batch of interns (now referred to as pre-interns). Dr Mwebesa warned that the striking intern doctors would have to look for ways of completing their internship, for which they were left with just two months to finish before they announced their strike.
Now, led by Deogratius Obang, their coordinator and other leaders such as Tom Oria and John Bosco Ssekyanzi, the pre-interns at Gulu University have joined the striking medical interns under the Federation of Ugandan Medical Interns (FUMI) and all health workers under the Uganda Medical Association (UMA) in demanding that government implements President Museveni’s directives for the enhancement of interns allowances from about Shs700,000 to about Shs2.5m.
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As we reported recently, Senior House Officers (SHOs) and dental surgeons under their umbrella body, Uganda Dental Association (UDA), have all officially joined the strike and condemned the decision to fire striking interns.
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In announcing that they will shun internship, the pre-interns at Gulu have noted that the concerns that were raised by the striking interns such meagre allowances, poor working conditions, inadequacy of PPEs and other medical supplies have not been addressed, and would, consequently affect the incoming batch if not dealt with now.
“It’s on this note that we as the medical pre-interns from Gulu University, have resolved that we shall not commence with internship unless the grievances of the current interns have been solved,” the pre-interns informed MoH, further urging DG Dr Mwebesa to accord medical interns the respect and attention they deserve. “We shall only start our internship process only after our predecessors have fully completed their internship.” (For comments on this story, call, text or whatsapp us on 0705579994 [whatsapp line], 0779411734, 0200900416 or email us atmulengera2040@gmail.com).