Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa tasked the Ministry of Health to resolve the raging concerns about the deployment of medical interns amid unrest by pre-medical interns at Makerere University.
On Thursday, while chairing the parliamentary session, Tayebwa called for a comprehensive statement from the Minister of Health to clarify the situation.
Many colleagues have raised this issue, but the Minister of Health should address it on Tuesday. Doctors, like any other profession, have to progress,
Tayebwa said.
The riot erupted after the pre-medical interns at Makerere University protested briefly on Wednesday, angry over the recent deployment list. In the list, very many students were excluded from participating, a factor that frustrated others.
Tayebwa said he had gotten an overwhelming number of reactions in regard to the internship placements by medical students.
I have received lots of complaints on social media, and it’s evident that this matter is of interest to us in Parliament,
he said.
He wondered why medical interns were always ginger passed on to issues like this, unlike any other professional body.
This year, 1,263 students were deployed and the rest were asked to wait. The Ministry of Health had provided an approximate UGX 35 billion to cater to the interns and senior health officers. However, that funding can only accommodate up to 1,786 interns and 500 senior health officers.
Deputy Speaker, Tayebwa, emphasized that the recurring challenge should be attended to with urgent measures and decisions, wondering whether the challenge is always a matter of inadequate funds or limited facilities.
