The Uganda Medical Association (UMA) has given the government 3 months to respond to their demands or they will strike.
UMA is an umbrella body comprising over 6000 medical personnel.
Through their president, Dr, Richard Idro, the medics have petitioned the minister of public service-Hon. Wilson Muruuli Mukasa explaining why their demands must be met this time.
Their demands include among others recruiting more staff because of inadequacy, lack of personal protective equipment (PPEs), the government has not honored the promise of increasing their gross pay to Shs 3 million, better the working conditions of Intern Medical Doctors…
Last week, the (UMA) said at least 1,113 doctors remain unemployed despite acute understaffing in the country’s health facilities and a heavy workload.
UMA, explained that 3,124 of the 5,247 doctor posts in public service are vacant, adding that the problem is much bigger at consultancy and senior consultancy levels where 75 per cent of the jobs are unoccupied.
In their petition, UMA says they have consistently aired out their grievances with official notices since 2017 but nothing good has come out of it.
The letter reads in part; “U.M.A has over the past 21 months written letters, met with and engaged the relevant Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies to discuss these critical health systems gaps including human capital development and other emerging issues and especially these challenges visited upon us by Covid19 with little success. ” Idro says.
UMA has issued a 90-day ultimatum up from Friday 6th August to the 2nd week of November for Government to address their needs.
“Government should also compensate all the 50 plus health workers who have died in the line of duty (Doctors, Nurses, Midwives, Clinical Officers, Laboratory personnel, support staff) and those among the 3,000 plus who were infected and survived but with substantive injuries as well as paying the Covid19 risk allowances without taxation to all frontline healthcare professionals.”
Dr. Joseph Gavin Nyanzi the mouthpiece for UMA told our reporter Rashidah Naakayi says according to the law notice of 100 days is given last week.
He says;” In 2017 we held a nationwide industrial action, doctors across the board laid down their tools, we had 3 major reasons, the supplies in our hospitals were inadequate if you got accident today and went to Mulago referral hospital, you have to part with money to get just panadol, persecution by the health monitoring unit, doctors and health workers. Salaries of health works, intern doctors earn only 700000 shillings without accommodation or food. We stopped the strike because the government promised to increase the salary in bits but nothing has been done ”.
He adds ”In June 2021 we had a chance to meet the president at the statehouse together with Uma and the federation of medical interns plus other government officials present at the meeting and the president directed that beginning financial year 2021/2022, intern doctors should start receiving 2.5m shillings, doctors 5 million, medical officer 2nd grade between 7 to 10 million and it goes up until the director of health services who should earn at the same level as a principal judge and that is the same pledge the president made in 2017, we now wonder whether the problem is with the technocrats”
