Medical students appeal for review of four-year retention policy

Medical students are requesting for a revision of the government policy that requires all medicine graduates from the University of Rwanda (UR) to serve in government hospitals for two to seven years depending on their status. Under what’s known as a retention contract, general practitioners who studied on government scholarship commit to a two-year public service, while for specialists, the commitment is a period of five to seven years. The New Times has learnt that even some private students (who are not under the scholarship) are obliged to sign the retention contract. Christelle U. Giraneza, a graduate in UR school of medicine said that, “I couldn’t sign it since I wasn’t on a government scholarship, and as a result, I failed to get my medical license.” She added that, “What the government can do for medical practitioners is provide possible incentives for them and also stop retaining intern students.” For, Fabrice Iradukunda, who has been a medical practitioner for one year said that within those four years you are not allowed to look for jobs outside the public hospital, which will be fine as long as we have incentives in place to complement our needs. Iradukunda said that the public hospitals have a few doctors, so they have to keep the medical graduates around, however, they should ask well put in consideration doctors’ concerns. According to Rwanda Medical Association, a syndicate of some 300 doctors, those who leave the public sector are offered better payment and working conditions or they just want to change their job for other reasons, adding that the retention of doctors is necessary for the local health sector. “For us, the ministry's position on retention is a positive sign and we appreciate the need to retain our doctors,” said David Ntirushwa, the association’s president. According to the 2016 Prime minister’s order determining modalities for conducting training of public servants contract with the beneficiary of the training, “a public servant who is authorized to attend training inside or outside the country in accordance with provisions of this Order is required to sign a contract with the employing public institution.” The contract specifies that after training, the public servant is required to come back and work for the institution he or she was working for before the training for a minimum period of, one year if the public servant benefited from the training for a period that lasted for three months but not more than six months; two years if the public servant benefited from the training for a period that exceeds six months but not more than 12 months; three years if the public servant benefited from the training that lasted for a period that is above 12 months but not more than twenty-four 24 months; five years if the public servant benefited from training that lasted for a period that is above 24 months. The Prime Minister’s order adds that the Minister in charge of public service may, depending on skills needed within a specific sector, and upon request by the concerned Ministry, extend the period as stipulated. Article 2 of the retention contract says that, in order for the ministry to achieve its objectives the sponsored intern doctor must at least work for the ministry or its agencies for a period of four years retention contract after completion of the internship period, before opting to quit or continue serving the Ministry. Expectation will be made to work only for two years after internship if he or she is going to exclusively pursue a clinical training.

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Medical students appeal for review of four-year retention policy