The Uganda Medical Association (UMA) has raised concerns over the government’s obstruction of their efforts to facilitate the export of doctors to countries like the United Kingdom, Poland, and the United States, despite the high demand for their services abroad.
UMA President Dr. Herbert Luswata expressed frustration over the association’s inability to establish a labor externalization company for health workers. Luswata revealed that while they have held discussions with recipient countries about the possibility of deploying Ugandan doctors, their attempts to register the company have been repeatedly blocked.
“There are over two thousand medical officers currently unemployed, and this number grows every year as more than a thousand graduate annually,” Luswata said. He added that in the New Year, renewing their push to license their externalization company is a top priority.
However, Lawrence Egulu, Commissioner for Employment Services in the Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development, denied receiving any application for such a license from UMA. “Applicants must submit their documents through an online system, and we have never received an application from the Uganda Medical Association,” Egulu said.
He also noted that Uganda currently has no Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with any country regarding the externalization of health workers.
In 2022, the Ministry of Health hinted at a possible partnership to send Ugandan doctors to work in the United Kingdom, but this initiative has yet to materialize. Efforts to externalize medical workers have been controversial due to Uganda’s dire need for healthcare professionals.
In 2015, a plan to send doctors to Trinidad and Tobago sparked public outcry. Activists argued that a country with a doctor-to-patient ratio of 1:25,000—far below the World Health Organization’s recommended 1:1,000—could not afford to export its limited medical workforce.
Luswata contends that doctors should be allowed to work abroad, as the government is unable to provide jobs for many of them. “Even if they remain in Uganda, there are no positions for them,” he said.
Due to the challenges of formal externalization, UMA has resorted to helping individual doctors pursue jobs abroad. Last year, UMA held meetings to guide doctors on navigating employment opportunities in the UK.
Additionally, information obtained indicates that some Ugandan doctors have already been recruited by the Royal College of Physicians, which has shown interest in specialists. Efforts to get a comment from the Ministry of Health on this matter were unsuccessful, as the responsible official requested more time to gather information.