Medical Pre-Interns Demand Withdrawal of Training Policy, Shs4 Million Monthly Allowance

What the report says

Nile Post reported that medical pre-interns in Uganda are asking the government to withdraw the National Education and Training for Health policy, saying the planned changes could affect patient safety, welfare for interns and continuity of health services. The group made the call at a press conference in Kampala, where Medical Pre-Interns President Dr Silver Ssegonga said the 2026 cohort is also worried about delays by the Ministry of Health in arranging the internship programme expected to start in August.

According to the report, Ssegonga said the NET Policy, introduced in 2025 by the Ministries of Health and Education and Sports, would add an extra year to medical training and remove internship allowances. He argued that graduates entering internship are already qualified health professionals, including doctors, dental surgeons, pharmacists, nurses and midwives, and warned against assigning intern-level duties to students.

The pre-interns want the two ministries to suspend the policy and hold a time-bound review with universities, professional bodies and other stakeholders. They are also demanding that government raise monthly internship allowances to Shs4 million, which they say is 75 percent of a medical officer’s salary, instead of the Shs2.5 million provided for under President Yoweri Museveni’s 2021 directive. Ssegonga said interns face long shifts, depend on the allowance for basic costs and are hurt by delayed quarterly payments.

Nile Post also reported that the group wants all eligible 2026 medical graduates deployed, arguing that interns help keep public facilities running amid severe staffing shortages. The dispute matters because internship policy affects health-worker training, service delivery in public hospitals and the transition of medical graduates into Uganda’s workforce.