“The Government Has No Money To Fund You” Museveni Tells Medical Interns To Join Army And Police

President Museveni has revealed that the government doesn’t have enough money to fund medical interns. The President proposed that to make the work easier, the person who has been sponsoring the medical student during the medical school should be the one to also sponsor him/her during internship.

“Who pays for the internship? Some people are saying that the government must pay but I think that is risky because the government would pay if it had money but it doesn’t have enough money since it has got a lot of things to do like roads, security etc,” said Museveni.

“I don’t think it is okay to tie the future of our young doctors with government funding because it may delay or it may not be there,” he added.

President Museveni made the remarks on Saturday 24th August, 2024 while delivering a lecture of opportunity to 210 post-medical interns who had completed their 10-day patriotism and ideological training at the National Leadership Institute (NALI), Kyankwanzi. The meeting took place at State House, Entebbe.

The President’s proposal comes at a time when a good number of medical interns are stuck over delay by the government to release funds for them to start their internship. Dr. Henry Mwebesa, the Commissioner for Health Services at the Ministry of Health recently announced that the Uganda Medical Internship Committee had concluded internship placements for the next one year.

According to Mwebesa, the medical internship placements scheduled to take place from 05 August 2024 to 31 July 2025 will cover graduates who completed their courses in 2023 and before.He said the Ministry lacked the resources to deploy the interns and supervise them effectively.

The Ministry’s decision sparked outrage among the interns who pressured authorities to intervene in their situation.

In response to their concerns, the president observed: “Why don’t we agree that a person who has qualified as a medical doctor after five years in the medical school, continues with the internship but with sponsorship from the person who sponsored him in the first place?”

He added: “What is the problem? If someone was sponsoring you for five years, why does he stop now? There’s another demand from the government. I have been told that these interns need a supervisor. Are these supervisors enough?”

“What I propose is that on sponsorship, we maintain the one who has been sponsoring you during the undergraduate, let him sponsor you. If it was the government, loan scheme or State House or your parents sponsoring, let them continue so that you do the internship, if you do that, you remove the issue of waiting for government money. The government must also hire enough consultants to supervise you. If we do this, I think it will make the work much easier. That is my proposal, you go and think about it.”

On the other hand, President Museveni called on the medical professionals to support his efforts of increasing the budget so that the government is able to create more posts at the health Centres III and IV to ensure that they absorb as many doctors as possible. He also pledged to financially support qualified doctors to start their private health facilities given the fact that they cannot all be absorbed in government facilities.

“Joining UPDF and police as medical professionals is music to my ears. You are still young and energetic. I can guarantee you, you are most welcome in the army and police anytime. Even now I can recruit you here.”