Uganda’s Ministry of Health said Friday that it had been cleared to deploy at least 1,901 medical interns at its 58 internship centres across the country.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Health in Uganda has released a deployment list for the interns under revised terms as guided by the government. The delayed deployment was occasioned by factors beyond the control of Uganda’s Ministry of Health,” the director general of health services, Dr Henry Mwebesa, said in a Friday morning statement.
According to him, each of the interns will earn a monthly allowance of Shs1 million to facilitate accommodation and feeding.
“All the Medical Interns are expected to report to their various training centres by August 3, 2023. The respective Hospital Directors will issue the Interns with deployment letters and organise for their induction,” Dr. Mwebesa added.
Medical interns are qualified doctors, pharmacists, and nurses who need a one-year placement in hospitals to get permanent practising licences from their respective professional bodies. Some medical interns have reportedly been waiting for deployment for more than 10 months now.
The interns are essential in the health system due to the low number of medical workers employed by the government.
In May, a Cabinet meeting resolved that payment for medical interns, which normally ranges from Shs1.5 million to Shs2.5 million, should be maintained to keep the young medical workers motivated as they handle patients.
The Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, told Parliament last month that her ministry needed Shs80.4 billion to deploy the interns.
