Ssenyonyi Urges Government To Prioritise Medical Interns

Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi, has called upon the government to prioritize the deployment of medical interns.

Over the last couple of weeks, a number of medical students have been protesting the Ministry of Health’s decision to deploy only a handful of their colleagues. Despite revealing that they would deploy a total of 2,500 students, the Ministry of Health sent out only 1,200 students. The decision left a number of students stranded, as internship is a mandatory process for qualification as a medical doctor.

In their defense, the Ministry revealed that they didn’t have resources to deploy all the candidates, as they needed an extra shs 18 billion. Following their recent pay raise, each medical intern is entitled to a monthly gross salary of shs 1,300,000. With the Taxman taking off shs 300,000 of this, the interns net shs 1,000,000.Therefore, the cost of deploying one intern for one year, inclusive of all taxes, is Sh 15.6 million.

However, according to Ssenyonyi, this impasse can be overcome with intentionality from the government. While addressing the press at Parliament on Thursday afternoon, he wondered why Parliament hasn’t backed the students.

“Why can’t we [Parliament] press the government to pass a supplementary [budget] over that? Parliament has passed several supplementaries over ridiculous things. This is important. Let us stop politicking and tackle the pressing concerns of the citizens.” Ssenyonyi remarked.

He also advised the government that deploying all the interns would serve their benefit, as the interns are the core frontline officers in the medical fraternity.

“The interns are deployed in the various regions. They get to address medical challenges there. In these regional hospitals, the bulk of the work is done by medical interns. That’s another way of the government sorting out medical concerns in different regions.” Ssenyonyi added.

Joel Ssenyonyi stated that for medical interns, completing their course is not just for their own benefit.