Family Physician Volunteer - Bwindi Community Hospital, Uganda

Are you keen to develop international primary care?

The RCGP is offering an exciting opportunity to volunteer with Bwindi Community Hospital in Uganda. The multifaceted role is open to either Associate in Training or post-CCT doctor offering the opportunity to lead both staff and service management and conduct teaching and other capacity building activities. 

Sharing your knowledge and skills, the aim of the role is to enable the volunteer GP to extend their training, enhance their knowledge and skills in areas that are difficult to achieve within the present training programme and develop experience in international health development.

What does the role involve?

This exciting role will involve volunteering as a family physician responsible for care of patients on adult in patient and paediatric wards and in Out-patients Department. Clinical work will comprise around 50% of the commitment. The other 50% of the time will be spent on teaching, mentoring, audits, research and other projects aimed at quality improvement and achieving long-term sustainability. The activities will be adaptable to the needs of the hospital. Educational and Clinical supervision while in post will be from the Head of Clinical Services at BCH.

Main Responsibilities


Service Management
Manage medical patients in the adult in patient department – 30 beds for medical, mental health and surgical patients with support from Ugandan colleagues. Oversee the chronic disease management clinics – hypertension, diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, mental health, alcohol, and paediatric. General outpatient duties –supporting Clinical Officers to review all challenging patients. Manage acutely unwell patients in the emergency room when OPD is busy


Staff Management
Liaise with ward in charges to ensure efficient running of the wards and engage in quality improvement activities. Mentor and teach Medical interns, Clinical Officers, nursing and support staff working within clinical departments. Supervise medical students.


• Teaching
Lead departmental teaching sessions for the outpatient and inpatient teams. Regularly lead teaching sessions as part of hospital Continuing Medical Education (CME)
Teach clinical staff on the job. Teach medical students – both Ugandan and international who are attached to the hospital

Staff training
Be involved in training of all levels of staff both formal and ‘on the job’ including nurses, nursing students, medical students, medical licentiate interns, clinical officers and clinical officer students.


• Fundraising
Be part of the fundraising team of the hospital
Activities include; giving tours of the hospital to international visitors, representing the hospital at local tourist lodges, helping update website for responsible clinical departments and personal fundraising is also appreciated


• Self Development
Attend and participate at clinical and mortality meetings.
Adapt skills to a resource limited environment and in a different culture
Keep a record of reflective learning as part of continuous professional development

For more information please see the impact experiences of our volunteers:

Please also see the role description attached for more information about this role.

How to apply​

Applicants should submit a CV and supporting 500 (max) word statement specifying why you think you are right for the role to international@rcgp.org.uk marked "Bwindi Volunteer Application" in the subject line.


Deadline for Application: Please submit applications from now onward for both February and August 2020 starting dates. Inquiries of interest or for more information are welcome.


Interview Dates: For start dates in February we will interview in early November and for August starts we will hold interviews in January


Start Date: February 2020 (6 month placement) and August 2020 (12 month placement)

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