Cabinet orders Finance Ministry to pay medical interns

Following the Monday cabinet meeting it was resolved that payment for interns which ranges from Shs 1.5million to Shs 2.5 million should be maintained to keep the young medical workers motivated as they handle patients.

However this was revealed yesterday by sources in government and was further corroborated by the health ministry and the Uganda Medical Association.

Meanwhile medical interns are doctors, pharmacists and nurses who have already graduated from medical school but need to undergo one year placement in the hospital to get a permanent practising license from their professional councils.

However some of the pre medical interns said they have been waiting for deployment for the last nine months in vain, the wait which has seen them hold protests across the country in recent weeks.

The permanent secretary of the ministry of health Dr Atwine Diana said the resolution was made following their presentation before the cabinet.

“Yesterday we had a meeting in cabinet ,we presented our challenges and they have tasked finance to go back and find ways of getting this money if it means suppressing other activities it should be done because this is a priority for us,” she said.

She added that following the resolution the ministry of health is awaiting to hear from finance ministry before the interns are deployed.

The secretary general of UMA Dr Herbert Luswata yesterday welcomed the resolution and said he would meet Dr Atwine to find details.

Meanwhile according to UMA , Interns carry around 60 workload in facilities partly because of the few doctors employed by the government.

However with their absence , UMA said is severely affecting service delivery in public hospitals through long waiting hours and limited attention.

As we tried to reach the minister of finance in charge of general duties he was in a middle of a meeting and couldn’t be reached for comments by press time.

Meanwhile we spoke to the spokesperson of the ministry Mr Jim Mugunga to provide more details but told our media they would release details if they volunteered information from cabinet.

“ I am not privy to cabinet decisions… what I can say is that as a ministry we implement policy and executive direction as formally communicated through official channels,” he said.