Deputy speaker of parliament Thomas Tayebwa has tasked the ministry of health to make a statement about the deployment of medical interns that has caused unrest among pre-medical interns at Makerere University.
“I know many colleagues had raised this issue, but I think the right way is, the Minister of Health on Tuesday brings a statement about this issue. Like all other professions, the doctors also need to move,” Tayebwa said during plenary on Thursday.
Pre-medical interns at Makerere University stagged a short-lived protest on Wednesday expressing their dissatisfaction with the recently released deployment list of medical students selected to do internship at different health facilities in the country.
Most of the medical students from Makerere University were not deployed.
Tayebwa said he has received complaints from medical students about internship deployment and that the issue of deployment of medical interns is ‘a thorn’ for them (parliament).
“I have received several complaints from medical intern students, most of them have bombarded my social media accounts, and we know most of them are in the public, some of you pay for us, or you have people from your area, so they have very many and this issue of their delayed deployment, it is a thorn for us,” he said.
Adding that; “it has been happening year after year and then we say, we have very many professional bodies, how come, it is only medical interns who usually have such issues? What is the problem? Is it the issue of funding, is it the issue of facilities?”
A total of 1,263 students were deployed for internship this year and the rest were advised to wait.
The ministry of health secured a sum of about 35 billion to fund interns and senior health officers this year. The money only caters for at most 1,786 interns and 500 senior health officers.
