About 80 medical interns were last week received at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital where they will spend one year of internship as they train on the job.
The interns, who were first inducted by the heads of department at the facility, were however cautioned against extorting money from patients while performing their duties at the hospital.
Dr. Deus Twesigye, the Senior Consultant General Surgery, said that the hospital received 80 interns who include medical doctors, pharmacists, nurses, midwives and dental surgeons.
He said that these have been deployed to different departments. The interns will be paid Shs1m from the government to cater for their accommodation and feeding. The interns as usual, will be at the forefront of offering medical services at the hospital.
This will ease the work of the specialists at the hospital on top of offering speedy and timely services to the patients. Dr. Twesigye, who has also been the acting Hospital Director, warned the interns against charging money from the patients.
“The issue of extortion is not only specifically for interns but for every health worker. We have had cases of extortion in our facility and every person here knows that we don’t tolerate issues of extortion. This is a public institution people expect to get free services.
Yes we have some private services but very well designated and for whoever wants private services straight away comes for them,” he said. In a related development, Dr. Celestine Barigye, the Hospital Executive Director who has been out of the country for treatment has resumed office. Dr. Barigye has been in Turkey for some months undergoing treatment.
