KIU, Western Campus – Boniface Osodi, the president of the Federation of Uganda Medical Students Associations (FUMSA) has hailed the directive by President Yoweri Museveni to increase the allowances for medical interns and said it will improve the interns’ morale.

President Museveni wrote to the Prime Minister on August 9th directing that medical interns’ pay should be increased from the current 750,000 shillings to 2,500,000 shillings.

And Osodi says this will increase the morale of the interns by leaps and bounds.

“It will increase morale for medical students to work harder knowing that they have a fairly decent place of residence and can afford a decent meal after a long day at work,” Osodi said in an interview with this website.

“It has been received very well, especially by those looking forward to internship and those who haven’t finished their internship. People are really excited and appreciative of the efforts of the FUMI (Federation of Uganda Medical Interns) president who has pushed so much for this and also our patrons, members of the Uganda Medical Association (UMA) especially their vice-president Steven Ayela,” he added.

He singled out the relentless and tireless efforts of the FUMI president Mary Lillian Nabwire in advocating for the improved welfare of medical interns.

“We are really appreciative of the president of FUMI for her selflessness because she may not even benefit from it but she did it for the next generation of interns and this is something we always advocate for from our medical students- the spirit of selflessness,” 
Osodi also called for the proper and immediate implementation of the president’s directive.

“The only issue will be implementation because many decisions have been made before and implementation has been a problem. At least government and all the officers supposed to implement the president’s directive should do so,” he said.

Medical interns have for long bemoaned the poor conditions in which they work, especially the meager allowance they get from the government, with many of them resorting to renting poor, cheap housing to live within the allowance accorded to them.

Courtesy Photo