Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) has raised concerns on the wellbeing of Medical Interns. The UPC concerns were voiced in a statement released on Wednesday, during a Press Conference at the UPC Head Office located on Uganda House in Kampala.
“President Yoweri Museveni last week made a pronouncement that there are no funds for medical interns due to so many competing interests which include security, and roads among others and requested the parents or guardians who have, to the extreme struggled to finance this expensive course (medical) for their daughters and sons to carry on and also foot the budget of medical internship”, said UPC Spokesperson, Sharon Oyat Arach in a statement.
Ms. Arach said it’s disturbing that even the lucky few who have managed to get to the government funding list, their facilitation rate has been very much reduced to less than a half.
“Instead of the 2.5 million shillings that had been agreed on with effect from the 1st quarter of FY 2021/2022, the latest pronouncement by the Director General of health services Dr. Henry Mwebesa puts it at 1million shillings. Either way, 2.5 million shillings and 1.0 million shillings are not enough for any intern given the hard socio-economic conditions that Ugandans face on a daily basis. The prices of goods and services are on increase and rarely drop. An intern is expected to cater for his or her accommodation, feeding and transport at the helm of attending to patients in the hospitals”, further reads the UPC statement.
UPC is calling upon the government not to implement this tough policy that compels parents and guardians to pay for the medical internship of their children.
“Some of them have had it rough by selling off their treasured property like land, livestock or even get loans on high interest rates so as to raise tuition, which property they cannot replace and loans they can’t service. This puts the future of our health system in great danger in the wake of emerging quack doctors if not well handled”, adds the UPC statement.
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