Bobi Wine aka Robert Kyagulanyi has something to say about doctors’ strike. The legislator does not mince his words when speaking out about the government. Here is his take on the civil strike by medical workers.
Here is his take
***MY TAKE ON DOCTORS’ STRIKE***
I am very sad that our doctors have had to be pushed to the wall until they laid down their tools. We can all imagine where that leaves the ordinary citizen of our country. Doctors rarely do this and when they do they deserve our support. In our case they have waited since 1996, each year being promised better terms only to be LIED to by a government which LIES to its citizens about EVERYTHING.
Any government which does not care about the plight of its healthworkers does not care about its citizens.WE MUST TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE WHO TAKE CARE OF US.
Statistics indicate that every year, hundreds of doctors and other healthworkers including surgeons, anesthetists, laboratory technicians, radiologists, midwives and nurses, leave Uganda for greener pastures in other African countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Botswana, South Africa, etc, where they are paid over four times better and have better working conditions. Others go to other continents, leaving their mother land against their will. This happens in a country with an acute shortage of health workers- each doctor having to attend to more than 25,000 patients as opposed to the world health organization recommended ratio of 1-1000. It is a common song to hear that government hospitals can’t afford elementary protective gear for health workers like boots, surgical gloves and aprons. Many times mothers in labor are asked to to buy gloves and other essentials!
All this would be excusable if the country genuinely didn’t have enough resources. NO. Our taxes are just spent on things that don’t matter to the common citizen. A few weeks ago I questioned why 13 billion shillings could be given to MPs over the age limit bill – to extend life presidency! How much can that money do to boost the conditions of a few hospitals and the welfare of healthworkers? Look at the figures. Billions each month spent on State House and other centers of public administration- a carefully crafted patronage agenda to maintain the regime in power. The cost of maintaining a life presidency is always squeezing life out of the tax payer. This is the tragedy of Uganda.
And it is not only doctors. The prosecutors are on strike. Judicial officers, teachers, university lecturers, etc have all threatened to strike.
Those in the private sector work so hard and earn so little which is heavily taxed. Our brothers and sisters who serve in the security forces earn peanuts. Their bosses have classified budgets! Everyday I see poor, malnourished, hungry police officers wielding expensive brand new guns, driving new teargas trucks and all manner of repressive equipment. Sad tale. Visit an average police barracks and see how they live. Sad tale.
These are things which must get all of us involved. The outcomes of such a system affect every citizen. We must stand as one and demand for dignity and better living conditions in our country. As Martin Luther King Jr said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” We are ALL FIGHTING FOR #FREEDOM.
