The speaker of parliament Anita Among says parliament awaits the Ministry of Health to present to them budget estimates for the funds required for the deployment of medical internees across the country.

The medical students have spent a year at home awaiting deployment by the Ministry of Health and say have no funds to cater for the deployment.

The speaker told medical practitioners in a meeting this afternoon that the house cannot legislate for the deployment until the ministry presents a clear budget indicating how much is needed and how many students are deployed.

A team of medical practitioners led by the former Uganda medical association president Dr Okwaro Obuku have this afternoon met the speaker of parliament Anita Among to discuss the future of the fraternity
These medical workers presented to the speaker a petition which they say was triggered by the Ministry of Health’s move to have medical internees pay for themselves.

The medical internees have spent about a year at home waiting for deployment after the ministries of health and financer said there are no funds to cater for their deployment.

Often seen these medical hopefuls storm the street to protest the delayed deployment by the Ministry of Health

Lately, the Ministry of Health has okayed internees who can afford to sponsor themselves to apply for deployment, a move that especially other doctors have rejected.

The government has set aside 22 billion shillings in the forthcoming financial year to clear arrears for medical internees and medical officers. This however does not cater for the deployment of the pending group, which requires about 60 billion shillings.

Speaker Among says the house is waiting on the budget from the line ministry, ministry of Health to see how many students are pending deployment. This is said to be the basis for the appropriation of the required funds. The speaker says unless the Ministry of Health prioritizes the medical workers then parliament finds it hard to allocate money. 

There are about 1900 internees that have spent a year without deployment. These will soon be joined by another group of about 2000 medical students who have also reached the deployment stage in the last year.  These say they cannot be employed anywhere since they are not qualified. The initial group requires about 80.5 billion shillings to be deployed.

The speaker has now directed the chairperson of the health committee of parliament Dr Charles Ayumme to coordinate between the Ministry of Finance, a church of Health, internees and parliament to see that all barriers are dealt away with and the matter brought to an end.

Ramson