Health Minister Warns Medical Interns Against Disobeying Deployment

Health Minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi has warned medical interns that those who fail to report to their assigned duty stations by Saturday, August 15, 2026, risk losing their internship placements.

Baryomunsi issued the warning during Wednesday's plenary sitting in Parliament after Leader of the Opposition Joel Ssenyonyi raised concerns over a planned industrial action by medical interns and doctors.

Ssenyonyi told Parliament that the Uganda Medical Association had notified key stakeholders of plans to take industrial action if government fails to resolve concerns surrounding the facilitation of medical interns.

"I have received a letter, as a member of the public, from the President of the Uganda Medical Association to key stakeholders of a plan to undertake industrial action if in 14 days government has not addressed facilitation of medical interns," Ssenyonyi said.

The dispute follows changes to the health training policy under which government scrapped the Shs1 million payment previously associated with each medical student undertaking internship.

Responding to the concerns, Baryomunsi said government is still consulting on the policy but expects interns to report to their respective duty stations.

"I will ask for an update from the directors of hospitals, and medical interns who do not report will have forfeited their places," Baryomunsi said.

The minister said government has already held discussions with medical interns and urged them not to abandon their deployments.

"We have held cordial discussions with the medical interns and we urge them to heed to their deployments. They should not be misguided," he said.

Baryomunsi also assured Parliament that government is committed to finding a solution to the concerns raised by the interns.

"We appreciate the work that they do and that is why I am asking for more time to complete consultations. There is goodwill from government and I urge the interns not to resort to confrontational ways of resolving the matter," he added.

Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, however, urged the minister to expedite the consultations and provide a clear position on the matter.

"We hope you can conclude the consultations. I do hope that on Monday you can raise the matter in Cabinet then on Tuesday you can give us a final position," Tayebwa said.

Under Uganda's medical education and internship policy, medical students are required to complete a mandatory supervised clinical internship before they can receive their university degrees.