The Ministry of Health has spoken out on the contentious issue of intern doctors, saying due to lack of funds, some pre-interns had expressed the desire to work for free.[ChimpReports]
The Ministry on Tuesday met pre-medical interns who were updated on the available options for deployment to medical internship as the Ministry awaits communication from the Ministry of Finance on the availability of funds for their allowances.
The intern doctors have been protesting delays in remitting their allowances, a situation the Health Ministry attributes to unavailability of funds.
ChimpReports understands the Ministry of Health is in need of Shs80 billion to pay all interns and Community Health Officers but has been allocated only Shs8 billion in the 2023/2024 financial year.
During the Zoom meeting, Health Ministry Diana Atwine told pre-medical interns that “some parents and pre-interns had approached the Ministry requesting to be allowed to start internship at their own cost, to avoid further loss of time.”
She said the “delayed deployment of medical interns had distorted the internship cycles given that other students were about to graduate from various medical schools and these will also compete for the same training facilities.”
It is against this background that the Ministry requested those pre-medical interns who in the meantime can afford, to apply for deployment in the internship training centres of their choice.
Dr Atwine said the pre-interns will be reimbursed if the Ministry of Finance avails funds.
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