DOCTORS FINAL ULTIMATUM

By, KATONGOLE ARNOLD

“By August if the issues we put before government are not resolved we will resume the strike and this time round we are going to mobilize all medical practitioners in public health facilities to join the peaceful strike come 1August,2023 if Intern doctors aren’t deployed to work.”

Dr. Herbert Luswata Secretary General of the Uganda Medical Association commented in a press conference called Uganda Medical Association (UMA)
This comes at the time when medics in public facilities decry the medic patient ratio they are currently grappling with where one doctor has to attend to more than 100 patients in a day. Dr.Luswata says there’s a big work load for doctors because the intern doctors who help coordinate work aren’t deployed in public health facilities.

Dr. Mirembe Joel member of UMA governing council says the absentia of intern doctors is an obstruction to the entire system. From patients who are delayed to get treatment, to doctors who work tirelessly to render services to the patients in need.

Mirembe gives the example of doctors who work 24 hours they only take a shower and get back to serve the citizens of this country Mirembe added that many mothers are dying not because of complications during birth but simply those who are trained to attend to them aren’t deployed and the government is not willing to employ doctors to meet up a decent doctor patient ratio
Several times police has been seen trying to disperse doctors strikes but this has not seen change in the way medics seek for their voices to be heard. Dr. Luswata says they gave government a grace period and they are ready to restart their strike on 1August,2023 if the medical interns are not deployed and they will keep going until the medical interns are deployed.

Government finds its self between a rock and a hard place , where they have to find 80 billion Uganda shillings for the current interns during their deployment and 21 billion to pay senior house officers.
In the 2023-2024 financial year government allocated 22billion to pay the debt of interns and senior house officers of last year and now this seems a razor thin escape for government as they must make a decision to deploy the intern doctors and save all parties in the service chain.

Letting 1August come without deployment of medical interns will bring the bad to worse. At the moment practicing medical doctors in public health facilities are committed to joining the strikes which simply means even the little manpower in medical facilities will be out on streets striking, which will create a great threat for the health sector. Now that UMA has revealed its official position on the matter afresh , we wait to hear the government’s response regarding this matter.

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