{UAH} Army doctors for striking medics not a clever move

Army doctors for striking medics not a clever move

• November 17, 2017
• Written by Editorial

A meeting that was expected to end the debilitating medical workers' strike ended with no deal but, rather, an escalation of the situation.

Government and doctors' representatives met at Statistics House in Kampala on Wednesday but there was no breakthrough as no side showed readiness to compromise.

In fact, the government side which called for the meeting didn't seem to have any offers to make other than appealing to the doctors' humanity; and when this failed, the ministers resorted to their earlier hard-line position.

Now the latest is that the minister of Health, Dr Jane Aceng, has called in army doctors and ordered striking doctors out of government houses.

This unwanted escalation only serves to prolong the pain and misery of Ugandans who are unfortunate to be sick at this time and can't afford private healthcare.

From the meeting on Wednesday, the government now admits that the doctors' grievances are legitimate, notwithstanding some of their excessive demands.

However, instead of seeking to address them or at least make concrete promises, they continue to peddle carrot and stick tactics such as questioning the legality of the strike and threatening doctors with dismissal.

Now, if the government's much-touted Plan B is the deployment of army doctors, we are afraid it is only a quick fix that can't be sustainable in the long run. How many army and police doctors can the government possibly deploy, and for how long? Besides, how many of these doctors offer specialised services?

The government should quickly drop its arrogant approach and engage the doctors in meaningful negotiations guided by mutual respect.

Appealing to the doctors' humanity or patriotism alone is unlikely to work because they are mostly professionals who don't need such lectures. Besides, the people dishing out such lectures don't have any patriotic credentials of their own to show.

Dismissing them, evicting them and hiring army doctors might not work either as their grievances, which the government has acknowledged, will remain.

And forcing them back to work through threats shouldn't even be an option because a doctor forced to work might be more dangerous than one who is absent.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

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"Even a small dog can piss on a tall building" Jim Hightower

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