By George Bukenya
Uganda People’s Congress party (UPC ) criticises government for failure to put up a proper policy aimed at ending the on- and- off strikes involving both permanent medical staff and medical interns.
Speaking to reporters at the party headquarters in Kampala, the UPC spokesperson Sharon Arach argued government to tackle the underlying issue of the welfare of the medical workers which is deeply causing deteriorating social-economic conditions in Uganda.
Arach said that government stance on offering facilitation to only the current medical interns will not solve the challenges. She suggests that government should budget for their allowances in every financial as an everlasting solutions.
” If government doesn’t handle the issue of medical interns with due diligence, the Uganda will face a crisis of shortage of doctors even in this very short run because such professionals will offer their labour where they are being paid and handled well”, Arach explained.
“Labour as a factor of production is highly mobile and moves to where its best rewarded, there government now has an opportunity to improve the welfare of medical workers including the interns, failure to do so, the country will face brain drain, ” she further reasoned.
The press in the passed weeks reported that medical interns demanded a hefty monthly pay of UGX 4,000,000 but government has offered a gross pay of UGX 1,268,929 which reduces to about UGX 1,000,000 after statutory deductions.
However government through the Minister of Health directed all the 2,417 medical interns to report to their allocated government health facilities by 15th August 2026 subject to forfeiting their placement in failure to abide by the directive.