By Johannah Nantongo
Government has suspended a controversial policy that sought to reduce allowances for privately-sponsored medical interns, resolving a standoff that had previously drawn intense debate in Parliament over the government’s handling of junior health workers.
Briefing Parliament on Tuesday following a request for an update from Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, the Minister of Health, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, announced that all 2,490 medical interns to be deployed across 77 accredited centres will receive equal monthly facilitation.
Under the rescinded guidelines, the government had proposed maintaining full facilitation only for government-sponsored students, while limiting privately-sponsored interns to a monthly meal allowance of Shs483,334.
“We did agree and the Cabinet recommended that we suspend that provision of facilitation for medical interns, meaning that we pay them as it has been,” Dr. Baryomunsi informed the House on Tuesday.
Consequently, all interns in the current cohort will receive Shs1,268,929 per month subject to tax, leaving them with a net pay of approximately Shs1 million.
The minister also announced that the government has dropped another contentious proposal that would have required medical students to complete an internship before graduating. Under the reaffirmed status quo, students who pass their final examinations will graduate first, with the internship remaining a distinct requirement for professional practice.
Following the policy reversal, Dr. Baryomunsi extended the deadline for interns to report to their designated deployment centers to Friday this week, after the initial reporting window of August 3 to 14 expired.
“These are our children, our sons and daughters. We extend the reporting period up to Friday this week, beyond which we shall consider those who have not reported, probably to have taken a decision not to undertake internship,” Dr. Baryomunsi said.
Addressing broader administrative challenges in the health sector, Dr. Baryomunsi cautioned senior doctors against absenteeism and “moonlighting,” warning that some specialists abandon public facilities and improperly rely on trainees to run hospital operations.
“Interns provide medical services, but under supervision. So, it is wrong to leave the interns on their own because they are still under training. The challenge has been that the specialists, the senior doctors… absent themselves and leave service provision to the interns, which should not be that way,” he noted.
Dr. Baryomunsi disclosed that Cabinet has directed him to draft a comprehensive health workforce policy paper within six months—a task he intends to complete within two months. The paper will address long-term employment, graduate absorption, and a proposal by President Museveni to exempt healthcare workers’ pay from tax.
Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa welcomed the update, noting that the key grievances raised by the interns had been addressed.
“We were demanding from the minister, one, that the interns should be paid. They reversed the decision… Number two, the interns were demanding that they need to be allowed to graduate before they can do internship. And it has been resolved,” Mr. Tayebwa said.
However, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LOP), Mr. Joel Ssenyonyi (Nakawa Division West), argued that restoring the Shs1 million net pay should only serve as a starting point, given the high cost of living and difficult working conditions in remote areas.
“Times have changed… Many of them are in far-to-reach places, and so Shs1 million shillings or that kind of thing many years ago cannot be the same today. Please keep engaging them, and let the conversation be: how do we facilitate them better?” Mr Ssenyonyi said.
Mr Ssenyonyi also expressed concern over Cabinet’s decision to limit the policy reversal to the current cohort, urging the ministry to guarantee permanent funding for future medical interns