Museveni said government commitments must be guided by affordability and sustainability, warning against making promises that available resources cannot support.
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President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has pledged sh125bn to the Uganda Medical Association (UMA) Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisation (SACCO) to help health workers access affordable loans, pursue further training and establish businesses.
Museveni made the commitment on Friday, October 9, 2026, while meeting medical interns and leaders of the Uganda Medical Association, led by its president, Dr Frank Asiimwe, at State House Entebbe.
The proposed fund is intended to enable doctors and other health workers to borrow money to finance professional development and create employment opportunities, including through private businesses.
Museveni described the proposal as a worthwhile investment, arguing that it would be a one-off intervention rather than a recurring government expenditure.
“Regarding the issue of wanting sh125m where the doctors can borrow and, if possible, employ themselves, that one I will support. This is not recurrent. It is a one-time process,” Museveni said.
He added that the fund would also support doctors seeking to specialise through private institutions, while the government would continue financing training in areas it considers a priority.
The proposed funding comes as health workers continue to push for better welfare, improved career progression and increased access to financing to strengthen healthcare delivery.
Museveni promises review of internship policy
The President also criticised the policy requiring medical graduates to complete their internship before graduating, saying the Ministry of Education and Sports had wrongly combined the two processes.
He said the policy should be corrected to allow graduation and internship to be treated separately.
“I think it was a mistake. I think it was wrong for the Ministry of Education to say that you don’t graduate as a medical doctor until you have done this housemanship course. It was a mistake to mix the two, and it will be corrected,” Museveni said.
On medical interns’ allowances, Museveni said the government would pay sh2m this year as discussions continued on the broader question of remuneration.
He, however, questioned why sponsors who had supported students throughout their medical training would stop providing financial assistance during the one-year internship.
“I am not closing the debate, but let’s weigh these issues out and think about them,” he said.
The dispute over interns’ allowances has persisted for years, with disagreements over the government’s financial capacity, the classification of interns as students and their role in providing services in hospitals.
In 2021, Museveni announced a monthly allowance of sh2.5m for medical interns. The government later reduced the amount to sh1 million, citing financial constraints.
It also proposed that private sponsors who had financed students’ medical education for five years should continue supporting them during internship. The proposal was rejected by medical interns, who staged strikes that disrupted services in several regional referral hospitals.
Museveni said government commitments must be guided by affordability and sustainability, warning against making promises that available resources cannot support.
UMA raises concerns over unpaid allowances
Dr Asiimwe thanked the President for the proposed SACCO funding and for giving medical interns an opportunity to present their concerns directly to him.
He said the sh1 billion Museveni extended to the UMA SACCO in 2017 had grown to sh13bn, which he cited as evidence of the initiative’s potential to improve health workers’ access to financial services.
However, Asiimwe raised concerns about the welfare of medical interns, saying approximately 300 had not received their allowances despite reporting for duty in August and working around the clock.
He argued that interns were frontline health workers whose contribution to healthcare delivery should be recognised, rather than treating them solely as students.
The UMA president called for stronger collaboration between the government and private healthcare providers in medical training, deployment, professional development, accountability, monitoring and quality control.
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He also urged the government to recognise doctors working in both public and private health facilities, noting that many Ugandans depend on private providers for medical services.
Asiimwe further asked Museveni to institutionalise two face-to-face meetings with the association each year to review priorities and address emerging challenges in the health sector.
Doctors seek better career progression
The association also proposed the introduction of three additional professional cadres — Chief Consultant, Principal Consultant and Senior Consultant — below the Director General level to improve career progression for doctors.
Asiimwe asked the government to increase staffing levels in referral hospitals to 75 per cent by the next general election and establish a retirement package for health workers comparable to those offered to security personnel.
He also appealed for support to establish regional medical hubs with capacities of between 50 and 100 beds to provide mentorship and practical training for young doctors.
On taxation, Museveni expressed support for tax exemptions for health workers and proposed a duty-free arrangement for essential items used in delivering health services.
He said the measures could help consolidate public healthcare services by reducing the financial burden on those involved in saving lives.
Health ministry explains funding constraints
The Minister of Health, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, thanked the President for his continued engagement with health sector stakeholders.
He said government policies and programmes, including universal education, had contributed to expanding the number of universities training doctors from one to 13.
Baryomunsi also cited immunisation programmes and interventions against HIV as contributors to improvements in life expectancy and reductions in infant and maternal mortality.
The Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Dr Diana Atwiine, said the ministry regularly consulted stakeholders but had to prioritise activities according to the resources allocated to it.
She explained that funds for medical interns were sent to the institutions where they were undergoing training, adding that changes to the disbursement system could allow monthly payments.
“We prioritise within what we are given, and we can’t go beyond what we are given. When the ministry gets the money, we send it to the sites that are training the interns,” Atwiine said.
She added that consultations on outstanding concerns were ongoing and that the ministry was preparing a paper for Cabinet consideration.
At the close of the meeting, medical interns welcomed the President’s commitment to addressing their concerns and pledged to continue working with the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders to improve healthcare delivery.
