The Uganda Medical Association (UMA) has rejected a proposal by the government to provide all intern doctors with lunch.
The government’s proposal aims to address concerns following the removal of the one million shillings’ allowance for medical interns.
Dr Frank Asiimwe, UMA President, told Favour fm in an interview that interns require more than lunch, including breakfast, dinner, transport, and medical care.
He states that, as officers on probation, interns should receive seventy-five percent of the salary earned by medical officers.
In Mulago, Asiimwe says they are told to eat patients’ food, and yet all interns deserve to be supported, irrespective of whether they sponsored themselves to pursue the degree or not.
He speaks out after Health Minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi revealed last evening that the ministry had been directed by cabinet to study the financial implications for the government if they were to provide lunch for all the up to 2000 medical interns deployed annually.
Baryomunsi says that all students on government sponsorship will proceed for internship with full support of the government, but for those who graduate from private institutions, they are considering the possibility of providing them only lunch to enable them to work without interruptions. The move by the government to scrap internship allowances in its new National Education and Training for Health Policy, which comes into force in August, has been rejected by both the medical fraternity and other members of the public.
By URN
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