UMA Rejects Proposal to Offer Lunch to Medical Interns

Dr Frank Asiimwe, UMA President,says that interns require more than lunch, including breakfast, dinner, transport, and medical care. He stated that, as officers on probation, interns should receive seventy-five percent of the salary earned by medical officers.

In Mulago, Asiimwe says they are told to eat patients’ food, and yet all interns deserve to be supported, irrespective of whether they sponsored themselves to pursue the degree or not.

He speaks out after Health Minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi revealed last evening that the ministry had been directed by cabinet to study the financial implications for the government if they were to provide lunch for all the up to 2000 medical interns deployed annually.

Baryomunsi said that all students on government sponsorship will proceed for internship with full support of the government, but for those who graduate from private institutions, they are considering the possibility of providing them only  lunch to enable them to work without interruptions.

The move by the government to scrap internship allowances in its new National Education and Training for Health Policy, which comes into force in August, has been rejected by both the medical fraternity and other members of the public.

The policy ushered in sweeping reforms, including integrating a one-year supervised internship directly into academic degree programs and enforcing a mandatory “no internship, no graduation” rule, effectively extending medical training.

While many aspects of the policy have attracted limited opposition, the decision to abolish internship allowances has generated significant concern. Previously, interns received about Shs2.4 million per month, before the amount was reduced to Shs1 million. Critics argue that removing the allowance altogether amounts to exploitation, given the demanding nature of interns’ work. The issue was also raised in Parliament on Wednesday by the Leader of the Opposition, Joel Ssenyonyi. He noted that medical interns form the backbone of Uganda’s public healthcare system, often working shifts lasting between 36 and 48 hours while providing essential services in health facilities. Ssenyonyi questioned the decision to withdraw financial support for interns and pointed to the government’s recent suspension of national public holiday celebrations as a cost-saving measure. He argued that funds already appropriated for those events, estimated at Shs24 billion, could instead be redirected to support medical interns. The debate over intern facilitation continues as stakeholders call on the government to reconsider the policy and ensure that medical interns receive adequate financial and welfare support during their training.