By Annet Nakanwagi,
NATIONAL
The minister of finance, Matia Kasaija has revealed government plans to clear arrears for striking medical interns.
According to Kasaija, government has in the ending financial year allocated Shs 22 billions to clear arrears for both intern doctors and senior house officers. He pledged that this will be sorted out in few weeks.
This was at the reading of the Shs52.7 trillion national budget for the financial year 2023/2024 at Kololo ceremonial grounds.
“Government will in the next few weeks resolve the plight of medical interns and doctors designated as senior house officers, in view of their important role in supporting the healthcare system,” Kasaija said. “In the meantime, I have provided Shs. 22.6 billion to clear outstanding arrears for medical interns and senior house officers for the financial year ending June 2023.”
The industrial action by medical interns and Senior Health Officers (SHOs) was reactivated on May 1, 2023 following the suspension of the first strike earlier this year. The doctors under their umbrella Uganda Medical Association (UMA) have been protesting against delayed deployment of medical interns and delayed payments of allowances of SHOs among other concerns.
The development comes hours after medical interns filed a petition in the High Court against the ministry of health and the state Attorney General for refusing to deploy them.
Furthermore, Kasaija noted that of the Shs52.7 trillion for the FY2023/2024, wages and salaries will amount to Shs7.3 trillion while non-wage recurrent expenditure is at Shs13.5 trillion. Additionally, Government development expenditure amounts to Shs6.1 trillion and domestic arrears worth Shs215.8 billion will be settled.
According to the minister, Uganda’s external debt repayments amount to Shs. 2.6 trillion and an estimation of Shs6.1 trillion interest payments is expected n the new financial year.
