KAMPALA: Uganda Medical doctors have threatened to join the interns who have gone on strike, protesting what they say is government’s failure to fulfill its pledge of improving their working conditions.
Dr Samuel Oledo, the president of Uganda Medical Association, said about 1,403 medical interns working in 42 hospitals across the country under the Federation for Uganda Medical Interns (FUMI) began their strike on Monday, November 8, 2021.
“These [medical interns] are our first line workers in hospitals, meaning whenever you go to a hospital, the first person [medical worker] you [patient] set your eyes on is a medical intern,” he said, warning that their strike will have catastrophic effects on patients.
Dr Lillian Nabwire, the president of FUMI, said the government had promised to enhance their salary at the start of the current financial year (2021/2022) in July but this was not done.
“The intern doctors were supposed to get a gross salary of Shs2.5 million [up from Shs750,000]. Our graduate intern nurses and pharmacists are also supposed to get Shs2.4 million,” she told journalists on Monday.
“Unfortunately, ever since that directive was given [by the President], it has not been implemented,” she added.
On his part, Dr Oledo said on August 6, the doctors wrote to government, giving them an ultimatum of 90 days to enhance their salaries as promised.
But he said nothing has yet come to fulfillment.
Dr Oledo warned that if the government fails to urgently implement the promises as directed by President Museveni, the doctors will soon join the strike.
The intern doctors and pharmacists want government to increase monthly remuneration from Shs750,000 to Shs3 million. They demand that the remuneration for graduate nurses should be increased from Shs750,000 to Shs2.2 million. They also want the government to address the problems with accommodation.
In May, the interns laid down their tools until the President intervened, promising to increase their pay in the next budget that started on July 1, 2021.