Eight young doctors who haven’t even started their internship yet are now sitting in Luzira Prison, and the Uganda Medical Association wants them out immediately.
The interns were arraigned before the Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court on Friday and charged with causing a common nuisance, after they staged a protest along Parliamentary Avenue on August 12, dressed in white overcoats and carrying placards demanding government commit to paying them a Shs4 million monthly allowance before they report for internship. Prosecutors allege the group blocked traffic on the road; the interns have denied the charge, and their case has been adjourned to today, August 17.
UMA president Dr Frank Asiimwe has since fired off a letter to the Ministers of Health and Justice, the Chief Justice, the Speaker of Parliament and the Prime Minister, condemning what he called an escalating pattern of arrests, hasty court appearances and denied bail against the interns. He described medical interns as the backbone of clinical service delivery in Uganda’s national and regional hospitals, and warned UMA will not watch its members “used as bargaining chips” over what he framed as government’s own administrative failures.
The standoff comes after doctors gave government a 14-day ultimatum earlier this month over intern deployment and welfare. Health Minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi has said Cabinet will discuss the matter, and has asked interns to begin their training even as talks continue. According to the minister, government-sponsored students will have their allowances covered, while discussions are still ongoing over UMA’s demand that all interns be paid, and that the figure be raised from Shs1 million to Shs4 million a month.
For the batch of interns still waiting to start their one-year hospital placements, the message from UMA is clear: this is no longer just about the paperwork, it’s about how the country treats the doctors, nurses and pharmacists it is about to depend on.
