{"id":1457,"date":"2026-06-10T16:36:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/148762-2\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:36:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:36:50","slug":"148762-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/148762-2\/","title":{"rendered":"ALLOWANCE U-TURN? Gov\u2019t Moves to Revisit Suspended Medical Interns\u2019 Pay – ONLINE"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The government has pledged to review the National Education and Training for Health Policy following widespread concerns over a controversial provision proposing the removal of allowances for medical interns, a move critics say could severely disrupt Uganda\u2019s public healthcare system.This follows strong objections from the Leader of the Opposition, Joel Ssenyonyi, who warned that scrapping intern allowances would undermine hospital staffing and weaken service delivery in already overstretched health facilities.\u00a0Ssenyonyi, while on the floor of parliament on Wednesday, urged the government to abandon what he described as a \u201cproblematic policy\u201d and instead prioritize funding for medical interns, who play a critical role in staffing government health facilities across the country.He said medical interns constitute the backbone of Uganda\u2019s public health system, often working exhausting shifts of up to 36 or 48 hours while providing essential services in health facilities.\u00a0 He noted that after completing their medical training, interns undergo a mandatory one-year internship during which the government has traditionally provided financial facilitation to cater for accommodation, transport, and upkeep.However, the new policy seeks to change this so that internship happens before graduation. The other reforms that the policy introduces include pre-internship examination for trainees before placement and guidelines on the selection, deployment, supervision, and accreditation of internship sites. Ssenyonyi says the idea of discontinuing allowances has sparked the most concern among health professionals and legislators.Earlier, the government had indicated that the number of medical interns deployed annually is currently increasing to a high of two thousand, and that it was risky and untenable for the government to continue paying them. Now, the opposition leader\u00a0argues that the lack of funds should not be used as justification for the proposed policy, pointing to the government\u2019s recent decision to suspend national public holiday celebrations as a cost-saving measure.He said Parliament had already appropriated funds for those functions and suggested that the anticipated savings\u2014estimated at Shillings 24 billion\u2014could instead be redirected to support medical interns. \u201cThis is not one of those political issues that should divide NRM and the opposition. It is a matter that concerns all Ugandans,\u201d he told the House while calling on the government to urgently find resources to maintain the interns\u2019 facilitation.Responding to the concerns, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja defended the government\u2019s historical commitment to supporting medical interns, saying the programme was initiated on the directive of President Yoweri Museveni. \u201cIt is the President who directed the Ministry of Health to allocate money so that interns can be facilitated,\u201d Nabbanja said. \u201cIt is NRM and Mzee who said let us facilitate these people.\u201dShe acknowledged that the number of medical graduates has grown significantly over the years due to the expansion of medical training institutions, creating new financial pressures on the government. Nabbanja said the newly appointed Minister of Health would soon present a comprehensive report to Parliament explaining the current situation and the government\u2019s position on the matter.Vice President Jessica Alupo also weighed in on the debate, acknowledging that the rapid increase in medical graduates is the result of deliberate government investment in science education and human resource development.\u00a0 She, however, signalled that the government is open to reconsidering the proposal to withdraw facilitation for interns.Her remarks offer reassurance to thousands of medical interns and students who have expressed concern over the reported proposal, amid fears that withdrawal of allowances could affect healthcare service delivery in public facilities already grappling with staffing shortages.This parliamentary debate comes as pressure mounts on the government to clarify its position on intern facilitation, with stakeholders warning that any abrupt policy shift could have far-reaching implications for Uganda\u2019s health sector.\u00a0Dr Ronny Bahatungire, the Commissioner of Clinical Services in the Ministry of Health, had earlier indicated to URN that this policy was to started biting in August when the next lot of interns will be deployed.\u00a0About Post Author
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The government has pledged to review the National Education and Training for Health Policy following widespread concerns over a controversial provision proposing the removal of allowances for medical interns, a move critics say could severely disrupt Uganda\u2019s public healthcare system.This follows strong objections from the Leader of the Opposition, Joel Ssenyonyi, who warned that scrapping …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_3659155457675267_172535249438148":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ALLOWANCE-U-TURN-Govt-Moves-to-Revisit-Suspended-Medical-Interns-Pay.jpg",761,450,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ALLOWANCE-U-TURN-Govt-Moves-to-Revisit-Suspended-Medical-Interns-Pay-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ALLOWANCE-U-TURN-Govt-Moves-to-Revisit-Suspended-Medical-Interns-Pay-300x177.jpg",300,177,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ALLOWANCE-U-TURN-Govt-Moves-to-Revisit-Suspended-Medical-Interns-Pay.jpg",618,365,false],"large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ALLOWANCE-U-TURN-Govt-Moves-to-Revisit-Suspended-Medical-Interns-Pay.jpg",618,365,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ALLOWANCE-U-TURN-Govt-Moves-to-Revisit-Suspended-Medical-Interns-Pay.jpg",761,450,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ALLOWANCE-U-TURN-Govt-Moves-to-Revisit-Suspended-Medical-Interns-Pay.jpg",761,450,false],"tie-small":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ALLOWANCE-U-TURN-Govt-Moves-to-Revisit-Suspended-Medical-Interns-Pay-110x75.jpg",110,75,true],"tie-medium":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ALLOWANCE-U-TURN-Govt-Moves-to-Revisit-Suspended-Medical-Interns-Pay-310x165.jpg",310,165,true],"tie-large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ALLOWANCE-U-TURN-Govt-Moves-to-Revisit-Suspended-Medical-Interns-Pay-310x205.jpg",310,205,true],"slider":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ALLOWANCE-U-TURN-Govt-Moves-to-Revisit-Suspended-Medical-Interns-Pay-660x330.jpg",660,330,true],"big-slider":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ALLOWANCE-U-TURN-Govt-Moves-to-Revisit-Suspended-Medical-Interns-Pay.jpg",761,450,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}