๐จ URGENT: Uganda, we are at a crossroads! The Floating Clinic Ssese is almost a reality, but we are running out of time. We need to raise $200,000 NOW to secure the matching grant from the Rotary Foundation. If we miss this deadline, the matching funds will be withdrawn! This isn't just a boat; it's a mobile hospital for 100,000 islanders. Letโs make this happen, Uganda! โด๏ธ๐บ๐ฌ๐ฅ (1/10)
Let us be honest: the issue is not that medical interns are too many.
It is not that Uganda has no money.
It is that medical interns are not being treated as a priority.
Consider the choices being made:
โข Parliament keeps growing.
Parliamentโs budget reportedly doubled to about ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ญ. ๐ฎ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐ป. The money going to 529 MPs rose from about ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฏ in 2020/21 to ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ.๐ฐ๐ฏ in 2026/27, an increase of about ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฐ.๐ฐ๐ฏ.
What direct return does this give the common Ugandan in a crowded hospital?
โข Two offices alone tell the story.
The Speaker and Deputy Speaker offices had about ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ณ.๐ญ๐ฏ combined in 2020/21. In 2026/27, they stand at about ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฑ๐ฌ.๐ฎ๐ฏ , an increase of about ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ.๐ญ๐ฏ for only two offices.
That increase alone can pay ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ interns ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ต ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐๐น๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ, with money left.
โข Questionable spending continues.
In 2025/26, selected Speakerโs office lines reportedly included ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฎ.๐ฐ๐ฏ for foreign travel, ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฒ๐บ for fuel, ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฐ.๐ด๐ฏ for incapacity, death benefits and funeral expenses, and ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฑ.๐ฎ๐ฏ for donations. Total: about ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ.๐ฎ๐ฏ. What lasting public health return does this produce compared with doctors on wards?
โข RDC structures are being funded.
Uganda reportedly has 146 RDCs, 170 Deputy RDCs and 432 Assistant RDCs, total 748 officials. Their proposed salary enhancement requires an extra ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฎ๐ต.๐ฌ๐ณ๐ต๐ฏ every year.
Add the reported ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฏ for LC I to LC V political leader facilitation, and that is about ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฏ. In what way does this benefit the common Ugandan?
โข Donations are funded.
State House donations reportedly consumed ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฏ over seven financial years. In 2023/24 alone, donations were budgeted at ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ญ๐ด.๐ญ๐ฏ, but actual spending reached ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ด๐ฌ.๐ญ๐ด๐ฏ. If tens and hundreds of billions can be found for donations, how does ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ to ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฏ for over 2,000 medical interns become impossible?
โข Health was not protected with the same urgency.
The Ministry of Health vote fell from about ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ญ. ๐ฒ๐ต๐ฏ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐ป in FY2023/24 to about ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ญ. ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐ป in FY2024/25, a reduction of about ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฏ. Even the 2025/26 estimate of ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ญ.๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐ป remains below the 2023/24 level. Yet health is the sector that directly touches mothers in labour, accident victims, children with malaria, emergency patients and families in public hospitals.
Now compare:
โข 2,000 interns ร Shs1m ร 12 months = ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ per year
โข 2,500 interns ร Shs1m ร 12 months = ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฏ per year
โข 3,000 interns ร Shs1m ร 12 months = ๐ฆ๐ต๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฏ per year
Even using the Ministry of Healthโs own gross figure of Shs15.6m per intern per year, the reported 2,706 eligible interns would require about Shs42.2b. That is still small compared with what is being found for political comfort and administrative expansion.
That money is not a handout.
โจ It avails doctors on wards.
โจ It keeps emergency units covered.
โจ It supports maternity care.
โจ It fills staffing gaps in regional referrals.
โจ It protects patients.
So let us stop pretending.
This is not a numbers problem.
This is not a money problem.
It is a priority problem.
Medical interns are doctors under apprenticeship, not free labour!
#InternsNotSlaves
One of the most brutal scenes in human history has been leaked.
Footage from an Israeli aircraft shows thousands of starving Palestinians running towards an aid truck, before it bombs and kills them all.
A video that the world must never forget.
Being comfortable spending billions on cars, on donations, on entertainment, treatment abroad, etc but not just about 20 Billion on a group of people that caters for over 50% of the medical needs of 45 million Ugandans is another proof that we are on our own. That they donโt give a **** whether we live or die. That we pay taxes to cater for their insatiable extravagant desires and lifestyle but not for the government to provide even the basic services! #PayMedicalInterns
In April 2026,Parliament passed an additional Ugx 5,636,000,000 to cover MPs' medical insurance&treatment abroad.
Parliament already had Ugx 12,195,800,000 allocated to medical expenses for MPs.
~ Ugx 17,831,800,000 in total
But we can't pay medical interns!
#PayMedicalInterns
Ugandaโs Unpaid Medical Interns: A Crisis at the Heart of Public Healthcare
Ugandaโs public health system is facing a deepening moral, legal, and policy crisis following the governmentโs refusal to pay medical interns. At the center of this dispute are young doctors who, after years of intense and costly training, are expected to shoulder the backbone of hospital care, without pay. The decision has far-reaching consequences for healthcare delivery, medical education, and the future of the profession in Uganda
Medical interns in Uganda are not observers or trainees in a casual sense. They are frontline healthcare providers. In many public hospitals, interns cover critical staffing gaps, run wards, attend to emergencies, clerk patients, prescribe under supervision, and provide round-the-clock care.
In practice, interns do most of the regular medical work that keeps hospitals functional, especially in regional referral hospitals where shortages of senior doctors are chronic. Demotivating interns through non-payment directly undermines patient care, increases preventable deaths, and overburdens the few fully employed doctors who remain. Refusing to pay interns while continuing to rely on their labor amounts to institutionalized exploitation.
Before internship, a Ugandan medical doctor spends at least five years at university, followed by internship as a mandatory requirement for full registration. Medical education is among the most demanding and expensive courses in the country. By the time students reach internship, many come from families already financially exhausted. Internship pay is therefore not a luxury, it is basic subsistence, covering rent, food, transport, among others.
Denying interns pay after such prolonged investment effectively turns medical training into a pathway of debt, distress, and despair. The situation poses a sharp dilemma, especially for government-sponsored medical students.
On one hand, the state argues fiscal constraints and frames internship as โtraining.โ On the other hand, it compels graduates to serve, posts them to hospitals, assigns shifts, and disciplines them as workers. This contradiction raises fundamental questions. If internship is compulsory national service, why is it unpaid? Why should interns offer an unpaid service in government hospitals? Whatโs governmentโs commitment to universal healthcare?
Ugandaโs approach stands in stark contrast to practices across much of Africa. In Kenya, Medical interns are salaried government employees, with formal contracts and monthly pay. In South Africa, Interns receive structured remuneration and are fully integrated into the public service payroll. In Rwanda, Internship is funded as part of national health workforce planning, with clear state responsibility. In Ghana, House officers (interns) are paid and recognized as essential health workers.
In these countries, governments acknowledge a basic truth: you cannot sustain a health system on unpaid labor.
Ugandaโs refusal to pay interns risks isolating the country, accelerating brain drain, and making medicine unattractive to talented students, especially those from poor backgrounds.
The unpaid internship policy has consequences beyond medical interns themselves. Patients suffer from demoralized staff and service disruptions
Rural and public hospitals face collapse as interns withdraw labor. Medical students reconsider their career choices or plan to leave the country. Public trust in health governance erodes.
Uganda cannot claim commitment to universal healthcare while refusing to pay the very doctors who keep hospitals running. Internship is not charity work; it is essential labor performed after years of specialized training. Government decision undermines its health system, exploits young professionals, and jeopardizes the future of medical education in Uganda.
Paying medical interns is not merely a budgetary decision; it is a test of justice, foresight, and national priorities.
If Ebola is considered too dangerous for Americans, why should Kenyans accept that risk?
Why is Ruto making decisions that affect the health and safety of millions of Kenyans as if heโs running his own Sugoi farm?
Major decisions must follow due process, involve public participation, and be subjected to parliamentary oversight.
Wenye nchi must never be treated as an afterthought in decisions that directly affect their lives.
@SpiceFMKE
We are poor country that can't afford to pay a whole 2000 interns the very huge sum of $3200 per year (each).
We are also a poor country that has enough money to spend on all sorts of useless things.
We are also a poor country in common sense
#PayAllInterns#PayMedicalInterns
#InternsNotSlaves
The powers that be are hell bent on destroying the medical profession in Uganda.
Unregulated, subpar training, underfunded health infrastructure, an "anything goes" approach to health systems...and a quick-fix policy to the question of internship... all these are a recipe for disaster.
The Ugandan population is growing fast and a serious country would see absorbing 2000 well-trained doctors annually as a priority.
#PayAllInterns
#internsnotslaves
#PayMedicalInterns
Support the Federation for Uganda Medical Interns (FUMI) and the UMA. Junior doctors earned their qualification through merit. They earn their wages every single shift. Unpaid internship is wage theft, plain and simple. #StandWithUgandanDoctors
5 years of intense medical school completed. Exams passed. Yet the government holds your degree certificate ransom until you work a year for free. This is not education. This is forced labor and institutional wage theft. #PayUgandanMedicalInterns
Uganda's political elite fly abroad for premium medical care using taxpayer funds while underfunding local clinics. Now they want the junior doctors running those very clinics to work for free. The hypocrisy is absolute. #HealthEquity