Doctors to strike
The Uganda Medical Association (UMA) has announced that doctors will lay down their tools next week on November 22.
UMA issued a 90-day ultimatum from Friday August 6, to the second week of November for the Government to address their needs.Through the former President, Dr Richard Idro, the medics in August 2021 petitioned the Minister of Public Service, Wilson Muruuli Mukasa, explaining why their demands must be met this time around.
According to Dr. Herbert Luswata, the Secretary General of UMA, the strike that was earlier scheduled for November 6 was delayed over managerial issues and change of leadership.
The doctors issued a government notice of industrial action in August and since then members of the old leadership executive have met with officials from the ministry of health, finance and even the Prime Minister’s Office but no decisions were made.
Luswata says the previous President of UMA, Dr. Idro, pushed the strike after Ministry of Health officials promised to address the plight of medical practitioners with a supplementary budget that is before parliament.
He says UMA has been awaiting communication from the government following a meeting they held two weeks ago with Ministry of Health officials.
He also says they had to push it forward because an official handover had not taken place between the old and new leadership.
Doctors to strike
Two weeks ago on November 8, medical interns, under their umbrella body the Uganda Medical Interns (FUMI), vowed to lay down their tools in protest against government’s delayed commitment to increase their monthly emoluments.
Dr Odong Samuel Oledo, the current President of UMA, supported the intern doctors saying the government has failed to honour a presidential directive and pledge to better the working conditions of intern doctors by increasing their salaries, providing better accommodation and hiring more staff.
Oledo said it was agreed at a meeting on June 1, 2021 between President Yoweri Museveni and Medical interns at State House, Entebbe that intern doctors get paid Shs2.5 million, Shs5 million for medical officers and Shs2.4 million for intern nurses starting July 2021.
“As you know interns are not students. They are fully qualified doctors with degrees and our first line of defence is in all major hospitals of Uganda. We urge the Minister of Finance to honour the Presidential directive and pay all intern doctors 2.5m per month and other interns as stipulated in the directive,” Oledo said in a statement.
In addition, Oledo advised the Ministry of Public Service to advertise all the 1,000 jobs and employ doctors as per the Presidential directive.
According to their petition, UMA says at least 1,113 doctors remain unemployed despite acute understaffing in the country’s health facilities and a heavy workload.
Of the 5,247 doctor posts available in public service, 3,124 are vacant. The problem is apparently much bigger at consultancy and senior consultancy levels where 75 percent of the jobs are unoccupied.
Their demands include, among others, recruiting more staff because of inadequacy, lack of personal protective equipment (PPEs), an unfulfilled pledge by the government to increase their gross pay to Shs3 million and to better the working conditions of Intern Medical Doctors, among others.
Meanwhile the Ministry of Health Spokesperson Emmanuel Ainebyoona has urged the doctors to be patient since a supplementary budget is before parliament to address their needs.
