Supervisors, associate consultants, medical interns, and the Uganda Medical Association (UMA) met with the Ministry of Health and were informed of a cabinet meeting where concerns of internship allowances and compensation disparities for some medical professionals were discussed. According to UMA, Parliament was tasked with allocating funds for medics with haste.
“UMA is doing their part in ensuring that parliament allocates money to cater for the allowances of interns and senior officers, as well as addressing the issues of association consultants,” a statement from UMA stated.
According to Dr. Herbert Luswata, Secretary-General of UMA, the medical office special grade and associate consultant members decided to join the industrial action that started on May 9, 2023, as UMA continues to lobby for dialogue and request government support to ensure that the issues of health cadres are sorted, the situation is reversed, and members return to work at the earliest possible time.
“We continue to request the president and government to continue ensuring that his position and directives made to pay allowances for the senior house officers and medical interns are carried out by those concerned.
“The president’s well-intentioned position to direct this pay is very much appreciated, as are the great strides that have been made in building infrastructure for better health. These directives have already yielded good results in terms of improved health service delivery for Ugandans,” Dr. Luswata said.
UMA believes that if the President’s directives are adhered to and the intern’s problems are solved by the Ministry of Health through parliament, there will be better health care and more effective medical care.