Medicine graduates from the University of Rwanda have recently petitioned parliament after failing to come to an agreement with the university and the Higher Education Council (HEC).

The two institutions have asked the doctors, who graduated last month, to conduct a mandatory five-month unpaid internship at different medical facilities where they have been placed, because they did not cover the whole content during their time of study, as revealed by an audit conducted by HEC, which is the regulator of higher learning institutions.

Speaking to The New Times, MP Damien Nyabyenda, the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Education, ICT, Culture, and Youth, confirmed that the students brought their claims to parliament and that soon they will sit to analyse the petition.

This is the latest in a number of controversies between the students, the university and HEC, arising from the change in the curriculum to reduce the number of years of study for medical students from six to five.

The transition meant that during the graduation this year, there were two cohorts - those who did five years (and studied under the new curriculum) - and those who did six years under the old curriculum.

However, those who studied under the old curriculum claim to have covered the entire programme and see no reason to add the five-month mandatory internship. 

"We had 131 weeks of intense internship. We request that institutions concerned understand that the two cohorts studied differently and hence the need to treat us accordingly,” one of the 6-year programme students told The New Times on condition of anonymity.

On the other hand, those under the five-year programme actually sees the internship as an opportunity to supplement their skills before they hit the job market, but decry facilitation.

"We always benefit from internships academically. But they also need to consider our living conditions and facilitate us sufficiently,” a graduate who studied under the five-year programme noted, also preferring to speak on condition of anonymity. 

The claims come after a joint meeting that was held before the 8th November UR graduation between the medical students, HEC and the ministries of health and education, which allowed all the students under the two programmes to go ahead and graduate, on condition they undertake the five-month internship programme after graduation before they can become fully qualified medical professionals.

 The meeting was a result of claims raised on twitter by the medical students who had expressed concern that they would miss out on the graduation which would only mean that they will have to wait for the next one, which is in one year's time.

The 5-month internship started on 2nd December and all the 370 students from both intakes have been distributed in all 30 districts of Rwanda, which is why the students claim they badly need subsistence allowance, which has not been provided.

The law prescribes that medical graduates must do a mandatory one-year paid professional internship before joining the health sector. As facilitation, professional medical interns get Rwf231,000.

However, during the five-month additional internship, each of the 370 will be provided with Rwf40,000, which they say is not enough.

Standoffs peak 

The Dean of School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Jean Claude Byiringiro, refuted all the claims and said that the students have gone astray of the agreement they heard early in November.

"Both intakes did not cover the whole academic programme due to the school’s insufficient resources. Now the government wants to help them get more professional, they should be grateful instead,” he said.

He added that facilitation given corresponds to the available budget. "They could get more if the budget was much bigger,” he said.

In addition, the Undergraduate Coordinator of the school, Dr. Charles Muhizi says that students were aware of the internship even before graduation.

"All the claims were settled in the meeting we had before graduation. They were aware that the internship would take place after graduation. I don’t see why they are claiming now.” Muhizi said.

The school of medicine and pharmacy has been operating under 6 years’ programme until the content was compressed into five years in 2015, when the first intake was admitted. 

The pioneer students under the new programme studied alongside their colleagues on the six-year programme, which is why they had to graduate at the same time.