Prospective medical interns are pressing government for answers on their welfare and on how the National Education and Training for Health (NETH) Policy will actually be implemented, with their scheduled August deployment now less than two weeks away.
The push for clarity comes as the Ministry of Health continues reviewing the NETH Policy following pushback from various stakeholders over how it is being rolled out. Speaking to journalists on 21st July 2026, representatives of the 2026/2027 medical pre-interns said they still have no communication on critical issues such as welfare facilitation, internship allowances, and deployment arrangements.
Dr Silver Ssegonga, who spoke on behalf of the prospective interns, acknowledged that government has recognised the concerns and confirmed the policy is under review, but stressed that formal guidance on next steps is now urgent given how close deployment is.
“We request clarity on the way forward, particularly regarding welfare facilitation and internship arrangements,” Ssegonga said.
According to documents reviewed by New Vision, 2,290 medical doctors have already been allocated placements across 17 universities, with Kampala International University alone accounting for 578 of those allocations. Despite this, none of the allocated students currently knows what their allowance will actually be, with only about 10 days left before deployment begins.
The NETH Policy, introduced in 2025 by the Ministries of Health and Education and Sports, proposes broader reforms to how health professionals are trained, including changes to internship arrangements and welfare facilitation, provisions that have drawn concern from professional associations and prospective interns alike.
The Federation for Uganda Medical Interns (FUMI), which says it represents more than 2,000 medical doctors, dental surgeons, pharmacists, nurses, and midwives undertaking internships across 73 hospitals countrywide, is appealing to government to wrap up the review process in consultation with key stakeholders.
FUMI president Dr Jacob Mwadha said prospective interns remain willing to serve in any part of the country, including the most remote and difficult postings, but maintained that solid welfare support matters for effective service delivery. The federation wants government to issue a written statement clarifying the policy’s status, the welfare provisions planned for interns, and how any outstanding payment backlogs will be addressed before deployment begins. Among the interns’ proposals is a shift from quarterly to monthly allowance payments, to ease accommodation, transport, and meal costs during the internship year.
Dr Daniel Kirunda, another representative of the prospective interns, argued that getting welfare support sorted on time would let interns focus fully on patient care rather than worrying about logistics.
“Timely facilitation enables health workers to concentrate on service delivery and respond effectively to patients’ needs,” Kirunda said.
Kirunda added that interns are also seeking clarity on how a 2021 presidential directive that raised medical interns’ facilitation is being implemented, and want the current rates reviewed against today’s cost of living.
The interns point out that many public health facilities are already dealing with staffing shortages, making the timely deployment of this new cohort important for keeping services running. According to the group, getting all eligible interns deployed would help strengthen service delivery in regional referral hospitals and other public facilities, where interns typically support senior clinicians in patient management.
Medical internship is a mandatory one-year supervised training programme that doctors, dental surgeons, pharmacists, nurses, and midwives must complete after graduation before they can be fully registered by their respective professional councils.
Government leaders, including the Vice President, Prime Minister, and Minister of Health, have publicly confirmed that the NETH Policy is under review. The prospective interns say they remain hopeful the review will wrap up before August deployment, to allow a smooth transition for the new cohort and uninterrupted healthcare delivery across the country.
