The Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) pre-medical interns have said they will not step foot in government hospitals for internship to replace the striking interns as expected by the Ministry of Health.
This was communicated in a joint statement released on December 14th by the University’s pre-intern leaders; Dr Arinatiwe Innocent, the representative for MUST pre-intern doctors, Nabidda Shamim, the representative for pre-intern nurses and Kushemererwa Jovaile, the representative for pre-intern pharmacists.
According to the ministry of health, the internship period of the striking interns is already up and they are looking forward to the new applicants who will fill the gap.
“Following the presidential directive on august 9th 2021 to address challenges of medical interns among other healthcare providers, engagements have been. On 10th December 2021, the director general health services ministry of health responded in a letter ferociously intimidating and directing medical interns on strike to vacate hospitals premises,” the statement reads in part.
The pre-intern doctors from MUST have now joined their elders in demanding for the payment of their enhanced allowances.
“We therefore clarify that the incoming medical interns from Mbarara University of Science and Technology shall not start internship until the grievances are addressed. We shall start when our predecessors finish their internship. We cannot antagonize the efforts to ameliorate the working environment for health workers to improve health service delivery in Uganda,” the statement added.
This comes four days after the Ministry of Health fired all the striking medical interns and ordered them to leave government hospital premises within the week to pave way for new entrants slated to join in January 2022.
Meanwhile, the president of the Federation of Uganda Medical Interns Lillian Nabwire maintained that their strike is still on despite the directive from the ministry of health to leave all government hospitals in one week.
