KAMPALA, UGANDA — The government has resolved the immediate pay and deployment disputes involving medical interns after agreeing to maintain a uniform monthly facilitation for interns and allowing medical students to graduate before beginning their internship.
Health Minister Dr. Chris Baryomunsi told Parliament that 2,490 pre-interns have been deployed to 77 accredited internship centres across the country, easing a standoff that had affected the deployment of newly qualified health professionals.
The announcement follows growing concerns over delayed postings, unpaid stipends and a proposed differentiation in payments between government-sponsored and privately sponsored interns. Several medical interns were arrested on August 12 during protests over the delays.
Under the new arrangement, all medical interns in the current cohort will receive UGX 1,268,929 per month before tax, translating to approximately UGX 1 million in net pay.
The government has also suspended the earlier plan to pay privately sponsored medical interns less than their government-sponsored counterparts.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa said the government had addressed the two major demands raised by the interns.
“We were demanding from the minister, one, that the interns should be paid. They reversed the decision, the interns are going to be paid,” Tayebwa said.
He added that the second demand had also been resolved, with medical students now allowed to graduate before proceeding for internship.
“Number two, we are saying, the interns were demanding that they need to be allowed to graduate before they can do internship. And it has been resolved,” he said.
The deployment of the 2,490 pre-interns to 77 accredited centres is expected to help address staffing shortages at hospitals and restore services that had been affected by the prolonged dispute.
However, questions remain over whether the latest arrangement provides a permanent solution to the remuneration and welfare of medical interns.
While the current monthly facilitation of UGX 1.27 million has ended the immediate dispute, some stakeholders argue that medical interns deserve a more sustainable remuneration framework and better welfare conditions.
There have also been calls for the government to review the existing policy framework governing internship and remuneration rather than relying on temporary interventions whenever interns protest.
The latest resolution therefore brings temporary relief to thousands of young health professionals while placing renewed attention on the broader question of how Uganda should permanently address medical interns’ pay, deployment and welfare.
For now, the government maintains that the two key demands ‘payment of interns and permission to graduate before internship’ have been resolved, paving the way for the current cohort to begin or continue their professional training without further delays.
