Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Susan Nakhumicha says the Ministry has requested Kes 4.9 billion from the National Treasury to fund the posting of medical interns.

Addressing the media Thursday, she revealed that the Ministry does not have enough funding to sustain interns.

“The reason why we are not able to post interns immediately is that we must ensure that wherever they are going, they can get the training that they need to finish and get their licenses, for that training to be available we need to have these internship center adequately equipped.”

The CS indicated that the ministry is not allowed to post interns if it lacks the necessary funds to sustain them effectively.

Nakhumicha stated that the ministry will compensate the medics for lost time during their internship.

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“The conversation about the internship is not about posting, it’s a bigger conversation about healthcare financing, that we must get out financing for healthcare right so that then we can take care of all pillars of Universal Health Coverage. We have a pillar on human resources and that is where interns plug in,” she added.

However, she pointed out that the posting of medical interns has been prevalent for many years and the current government should not take the blame.

“It is not starting with this government, it is not starting with me as the cabinet secretary, it has always been there many years ago,” she said.