MBARARA – Dr. Deus Twesigye, a senior consultant general surgeon at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital has asked newly deployed medical interns to avoid the bad habit of extorting money from patients.
Speaking at the recent induction of 80 medical interns who included doctors, pharmacists, nurses, midwives, and dental surgeons, Twesigye, warned that extorting money from patients is tantamount to corruption.
“Extorting money is prohibited. Every person here knows this, be it interns or senior doctors. We do not compromise when it comes to that,” he said.
The current cohort of interns was expected to be deployed in hospitals by April 3, according to Dr. Twesigye. However, the Ministry of Health had financial constraints hence the delay which affected service delivery.
“We have been eagerly waiting for you since April 4, 2023, and now that we are here, we are ready to move on normally, otherwise we have been struggling so much, the manpower has been low and even some of our senior doctors have been suffering to have any rest,” he said.
According to new plans, the medical interns will be training for one year and will be paid a net allowance of one million shillings monthly, which Dr. Celestine Barigye, said is little compared to the standards of living in Mbarara City and elsewhere.
Much as the pay is low, Dr. Barigye, who also works at Mbarara Hospital, encouraged the new interns to handle patients in the best way possible.
He said: “In terms of service delivery, I have no doubt that we shall continue to excel. I have been abroad and delivering quality services is not about money. It is about commitment. Even if you don’t earn high salaries, you can treat a person and get cured.”
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