Just when we all thought that crazy in the Ugandan world of Education was over, and just days after medical students all over the country struck over the elimination of internship allowances save for those who accept to do two years mandatory public service in district hospitals for Government students and a one year internship with no pay for private sponsored students. In the same week, over 10,000 nurses from six universities were rejected by Uganda Nurses and Midwives council.
Medical Students have yet again faced another hurdle after a Ministry of Health official said that medical interns are to begin sitting pre-entry exams as qualification before being placed for any internship training.
The introduction of pre-entry exams is to better the quality of health specialists and doctors that are released after graduation. Prof. Anthony Mbonye the Director General of Health Service at the Ministry of Health expressed concerned over the huge number of medical students graduating each year majority of whom he says are under skilled.
“Ten years ago, we used to get about 200 interns in the whole of Uganda. Currently, the number of interns stands at 10,010. Government gives us only money to train 350 which implies that we have limited space, time, supervisors and budget for the interns we now have,” Prof. Anthony Mbonye said. “We are going to begin giving students pre-entry exams before they go for their internship. This way, we shall be able to sponsor only those who qualify,” he added.
Unlike Law students who do a pre-entry as a requirement/qualification to get the Bachelors of Laws, medical students are to do the pre-entry as qualification for internship placement which many medical students have argued is unfair.
“I think they are trying to get back at us for striking over internship allowances and refusing the new form of slavery to prosper,” Moses a student of Medicine from Makerere commented.
