Medical students strike paralyses Mulago
MULAGO Hospital has been forced to scale down its operations to only emergency cases, following a strike by post-graduate medical students.
By Herbert Ssempogo
MULAGO Hospital has been forced to scale down its operations to only emergency cases, following a strike by post-graduate medical students.
The strike by the 270 students over unsolved allowance grievances, which began on Wednesday, entered its second day yesterday.
Hospital spokesman Eliphaz Ssekabira said, “Our focus is on emergency areas right now. We have requested all heads of department to put in place contingency measures to ensure that the hospital continues to run.â€
Department heads were also requested to re-design the duty roster to fill the gaps left by the strikers and ensure that all patients are attended to, Ssekabira said.
“They have also been asked to scale down on the operations of out-patient clinics,†he said.
The students, doubling as staff under various departments, went on strike following failure by the health ministry and the hospital administration to meet their “housing and duty facilitation†demands.
The secretary of the Post Graduate association of Mulago, Dr. Michael Bukenya, said they were not receiving any money .
He said their demands had not been met despite various meetings with authorities.
“Post Graduate students are not ordinary students. They constitute about 50% and deliver services to the hospital like supervising interns and teaching undergraduates,†he said.
Bukenya added, “A big number of them are privately sponsored. It is against such a background that we wanted some allowance for the services rendered.â€
MULAGO Hospital has been forced to scale down its operations to only emergency cases, following a strike by post-graduate medical students.
The strike by the 270 students over unsolved allowance grievances, which began on Wednesday, entered its second day yesterday.
Hospital spokesman Eliphaz Ssekabira said, “Our focus is on emergency areas right now. We have requested all heads of department to put in place contingency measures to ensure that the hospital continues to run.â€
Department heads were also requested to re-design the duty roster to fill the gaps left by the strikers and ensure that all patients are attended to, Ssekabira said.
“They have also been asked to scale down on the operations of out-patient clinics,†he said.
The students, doubling as staff under various departments, went on strike following failure by the health ministry and the hospital administration to meet their “housing and duty facilitation†demands.
The secretary of the Post Graduate association of Mulago, Dr. Michael Bukenya, said they were not receiving any money .
He said their demands had not been met despite various meetings with authorities.
“Post Graduate students are not ordinary students. They constitute about 50% and deliver services to the hospital like supervising interns and teaching undergraduates,†he said.
Bukenya added, “A big number of them are privately sponsored. It is against such a background that we wanted some allowance for the services rendered.â€