All medical interns to get Shs1 million allowance

What the report says

Uganda’s government has reversed a proposal that would have cut off facilitation for medical interns, keeping the monthly net allowance at Shs1 million for the current cohort. The announcement was made by Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng Baryomunsi during a sitting of Parliament in Kampala on Tuesday, 18 August 2026, after weeks of public debate, media coverage and protests by interns over the draft health training policy.

According to The Independent Uganda, Cabinet recommended suspending the contested provision in the National Education and Training for Health Policy. The earlier plan had been to separate interns into categories, with government-sponsored trainees receiving the full allowance and privately sponsored interns getting only meal support. Baryomunsi said the revised position would apply to all interns in the current intake.

The minister also said government has expanded internship centres to 77 and deployed 2,490 medical interns, including doctors, pharmacists, dentists, graduate nurses and midwives. Cabinet has asked for a broader review of health-sector staffing, training numbers and pay. In related changes, the government dropped a proposal requiring medical students to complete internship before graduation, and said it would consider the release of interns arrested during demonstrations. Opposition leader Joel Ssenyonyi and the parliamentary health committee welcomed the reversal but called for a more sustainable and inflation-aware approach in future.