Specialised doctors go on strike over pay

The specialists announced their strike will begin at 11pm on Tuesday, May 9 2023 and have further vowed not to attend to any emergencies.

While addressing the media on Tuesday, May 9 2023, Dr Joel Kimera, a pediatrician at Mulago, said they want their titles changed to ‘associate consultant.’

Kimera argued that Government confuses them for low cadres and this has also affected how much they are paid in salaries.

The medical specialists said they have the same qualifications and responsibilities as consultants, yet there is a significant disparity in their earnings.

They are demanding that their salaries be increased from sh6m to sh11m which, according to them, is a befitting pay given that they are specialists.

The doctors who are also known as Medical Officers Special Grade include; gynecologists, surgeons, and pediatricians among others.

They join the senior medical doctors (Senior House Officers (SHO)) and medical Interns, who are also on strike seeking better salaries and deployment to different medical centers.

Early this year, senior medical doctors decided to go on strike over the failure of Government to pay them for eight months.

The medics, who are professionally identified by Government as Senior House Officers, are duly registered with the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council and are undergoing postgraduate work-study training to become specialists in various specialities of medicine.

The president of SHO, Dr Robert Lubega, said the non-payment of the medics for more than eight months is already affecting their work since they are demotivated.

“Government really needs to look into this issue. These are senior doctors whose work is very crucial because they do specialised work,” he said.

He added: “A typical day of an SHO starts at 6.00 am with ward rounds, many head to theatre and perform lifesaving procedures on patients that they had to prepare the previous day. Evening ward rounds follow with a section doing overnight call duty on a rotational basis.”