Trouble has befallen striking doctors after President Yoweri Museveni cancelled his scheduled meeting with the members of the Uganda Medical Association under mysterious circumstances.
The development has however been linked to a picture of Dr. Ekwaro Obuku who is spearheading the strike, visiting Museveni’s tormentor and former presidential candidate Dr. Kiiza Besigye last year.
The president was scheduled to meet doctors Friday Friday morning at State House Entebbe, but postponed to a later date which the press secretary, Linda Nabusayi could not reveal.
This morning, Don Wanyama the presidential senior press secretary and government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo tweeted a picture of Obuku visiting Besigye at his Kasangati home. While the picture is from last year, Opondo captioned it as “here Dr. Obuku Ekwaro heading the ongoing doctors’ strike with Kiiza Besigye yesterday.”
Opondo further urged Obuku to join politics, since he has abandoned his job of dealing with patients. “Let him come join politics, after all he has already abandoned directly dealing with patients in health facilities in preference for NGO work” he said.
On Thursday, President Museveni questioned the decision by the medical doctors to lay down their tools saying they will regret their actions.
He warned that the doctors risk being sacked and new doctors recruited if they continue with the strike.
Adressing a rally at Karambi Play Ground in Burahya County, Kabarole district on Thursday, Museveni said that he has been betrayed by the actions of the medical doctors. He noted that the Uganda People's Defence Forces-UPDF soldiers are poorly paid but have never gone on strike.
Museveni said that he had hoped the doctors would remain patient until the outcome of the salary review commission. The Commission was established last month by the President to address the discrepancies in pay for civil servants.
The doctors under their umbrella body, Uganda Medical Association (UMA) laid down their tools at the beginning of this month and demanded the government to increase their salaries.
