The Medical and Dental Practitioners Act is the governing law for all medical practitioners in Uganda
The law provides for the establishment of The Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council (UMDPC)
Charged with the responsibility of regulating the medical officers and Dental surgeons.
The objectives of UMDPC are to as follows:
• Keeping up-to-date registers of qualified doctors and dentists
• Fostering good medical practices
• Promoting high standards of medical education
• Dealing firmly and fairly with doctors whose fitness to practice is in doubt.
Membership
The UMDPC has a registrar and under Section 8 of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, it provides that the
Functions of the registrar shall be:
• To keep and maintain, on behalf of the council, registers of medical and dental practitioners in the forms set out in the
• To make necessary alterations and corrections in the registers in relation to any entry as may be directed by the council;
• To remove from the register—
- The name of any person ordered to be removed in accordance with this Act;
- The name of a deceased practitioner;
- Any entry which might have been incorrectly or fraudulently made in the register;
- With the consent of the person concerned, the name of a person who has ceased to practise;
• To reinstate any name removed from the register at the request of the person concerned and payment of the prescribed fee;
• On behalf of the council, to inspect and have full access to all medical and dental health units, acting in accordance with the provisions of this Act;
• To record or cause to be recorded all minutes of meetings of the council and its committees and to keep all records and documents of the council;
• To have the custody of the seal of the council;
• To carry on any other function that may be assigned by the Council.
- In addition to the functions under subsection (1), the registrar shall, subject to the general control of the council, be responsible for the funds and property of the council and for the day-to-day administration of the affairs of the council and of the secretariat and for the control of the staff of the council.
- The chairperson may, from time to time, in writing, require the registrar to submit a report on any matter affecting the affairs of the council, and the registrar shall comply.
- The registrar shall, within three months after the end of each financial year, submit to the council a general report on the affairs and activities of the council.
Section 17 of Medical and Dental Practitioners Act also provides that:
Eligibility for registration.
- A person holding any of the following minimum qualifications shall be eligible for registration in the appropriate category to which his or her qualifications relate—
- A degree of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery or Bachelor of Dental Surgery granted by a university established in Uganda by law;
- A medical or dental qualification recognised by the council for the purposes of registration.
- In addition to the qualifications provided under subsection (1), a person applying for registration shall satisfy the Council that he or she has acquired experience by satisfactorily serving a full-time internship in a hospital approved by the Council.
- In the case of a person holding a qualification other than a qualification obtained from a university established in Uganda by law, the Council may accept experience it may consider to be equivalent to the experience specified under subsection (2) if that person produces a certificate of registration which entitled him or her to practise in that country where he or she was registered.
- Where a person applying for registration is not a citizen of Uganda and has a qualification obtained from a university established in Uganda by law or any other university approved by the council, that person shall obtain a temporary registration as may be prescribed by the council.
Source:http://umdpc.com/uploads/medical%20and%20dental%20practioners%20act%20Chapter_272.pdf