Uganda Health Professional Associations (UHPA), has resolved to join the threatening industrial action by medical interns slated for August 01, 2023, until their demands are met by government.

In a joint statement released by Dr. Biren-Yajnik-the President of Uganda Dental Association (UDA), Dr. Stephen Lutoti-the General Secretary of Voice for Pharmacists and Dr. Dan Muramuzi-the Executive Secretary Association of Graduate Nurses and Midwives of Uganda (AGNMU) condemned the government’s failure to work on demands of intern doctors.

The joint medical team called the failure by government to meet their demands, as intentional neglect of key facts, which they said is disturbing and severely crippling health service delivery, and the plight of medical professionals in the country.

They equated the obvious crisis to Ministry of Finance Planning Economic Development’s (MOFPED) failure to release allowances of Senior House Officers who ultimately are direct supervisors of the medical interns.

“We would like to appreciate the ample efforts by the Head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet to have this matter handled and settled at once and their recommendations to have interns deployed immediately,” the statement read in part.

According to the statement, there was an earlier meeting held on June 08, 2023, with relevant authorities alongside Ministry of Health officials and Uganda Medical Association (UMA), which stated that, it is the duty of Health Professional Associations to protect the profession and the practitioners, and they owe the whole nation.

“We are not doing our work if all our communications are hitting dead ears, if the discussions can’t solve the current standoff. Perhaps, we ought to change strategy,” the statement read.

“As sister associations whose members are affected, Nurses, Pharmacists and Dental Surgeons, we shall join in the scheduled nationwide industrial action together with UMA to ensure that all interns are deployed with available funding to support their one year mandatory medical internship period,” the statement added.

The medical team has in the recent past threatened to hold a general strike that will see all health medical workers staying away from work, starting from August 01, 2023, and are determined to see it through unless government deploys interns and addresses all their demands.