Police foils premedical intern demonstration

Information reaching our desk indicates that the Force arrested several groups of premedical interns from Western Uganda, Gulu, and a group from Kampala at Mulago Galloway House.

The premedical interns said the demonstration was aimed at expressing their frustrations with Government delay to deploy them early enough for medical internship.

They were later dispersed by Police who accused them of holding an illegal assembly.

This is not the first time the premedical interns are trying to demonstrate over internship deployment.

Last month, Police in Wandegeya dispersed off and arrested three pre-medical interns who were protesting over internship deployment.

Luke Owoyesigyire, the Kampala metropolitan police deputy spokesperson, confirmed the arrest of the three pre-medical interns who were detained at Wandegeya police station and charged with inciting violence.

The arrest came at the backdrop of an on-going week-long campaign on social media dubbed #UgandaHealthExhibition which was aimed at projecting critical issues in Uganda’s health sector.

Uganda’s health sector has for years been faced with challenges such as lack of equipment, poor funding, poor infrastructure and understaffing among others.

Early this year, for instance, the executive director Butabika National Referral Hospital, Dr. Juliet Nakku, said the hospital had not been supported to handle a high number of mental health cases as the hospital bed capacity was only 550.

The hospital, she added, has 1000 mental health illness patients admitted despite having a smaller bed capacity.

“There have to be interventions regarding the ever-increasing cases of mental illness patients. Butabika hasn’t been supported to handle high numbers. The hospital only has a bed capacity of 550 beds which is not enough,” she told this reporter.

The interns graduated last year and are required to undertake a compulsory one-year medical internship before they register to legally practice medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, and midwifery.

Last week Medical officers rejected a proposal by Government for privately sponsored students to sponsor their internship during a high-level meeting between the Uganda Medical Association and Prime Minister Robina Nabbanja and officials from the public service ministry.