President Museveni has pledged Shs125 billion 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 pledged on Friday, October 9, 2026, during a meeting with medical interns and leaders of the Uganda Medical Association at State House, Entebbe. The delegation was led by UMA president Dr Frank Rubabinda Asiimwe.
The proposed fund is intended to give doctors and other health workers access to financing for professional development and income-generating activities, including setting up private practices and other businesses.
Museveni said he supported the proposal because the money would provide a one-time financial intervention rather than create a permanent government expenditure.
“Regarding the issue of wanting Shs125 billion 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. Even that is a smart move, and I will support it,” Museveni said.
He added that the fund could help doctors who want to specialise further through private institutions, while the government would continue identifying and financing the areas of specialisation needed in the public health system.
“Regarding the Shs125 billion, it would cater for training if she or he wants to upgrade; you go there privately, but the government should have its own specialisations it is looking for,” he said.
The pledge comes as health workers continue to raise concerns about their welfare, professional development, access to financing and working conditions.
Dr Asiimwe welcomed the proposed support, saying an earlier contribution from Museveni had demonstrated the potential of the SACCO to improve doctors’ access to financial services.
He said the Shs1 billion provided to the association in 2017 had grown to Shs13 billion, which he cited as evidence that the initiative could help health workers improve their financial position.
Dr Asiimwe called for stronger cooperation between the government and private health providers in medical training, deployment, promotion, accountability, monitoring and quality control.
He said many Ugandans depend on private health facilities for treatment and urged the government to recognise the contribution of doctors working in both public and private institutions.
The association also pledged to strengthen professional accountability and said it was working with the Ministry of Health to address absenteeism among health workers.
Dr Asiimwe asked Museveni to establish two face-to-face meetings with UMA leaders every year to review progress and discuss priorities in the health sector.
However, the proposed SACCO funding was not the only issue raised during the meeting. Medical interns also sought a resolution to the long-running dispute over their allowances and employment conditions.
Museveni said the government would provide Shs2 million in allowances this year while discussions on the wider question of intern remuneration continued.
He questioned why individuals and institutions that had sponsored students throughout their medical education would stop supporting them during the one-year internship.
“I am not closing the debate, but let’s weigh these issues out and think about them,” he said.
“I am not persuaded that someone sponsored you for five years and they abandon you for one year. What I am looking at is the issue of employing people who have graduated fully as much as possible. This year we are going to pay a little money, Shs2 million allowances, but we shall continue the discussions about this matter,” Museveni added.
The dispute over medical interns’ allowances has persisted for years, with disagreements over the amount they should receive and whether private sponsors should continue supporting them during internship.
In 2021, Museveni announced that medical interns should receive a monthly allowance of Shs2.5 million. The government later cited financial constraints and reduced the amount to Shs1 million.
The government also argued that private sponsors who had financed students’ medical education for five years should continue supporting them during the internship year because they were still undergoing practical training.
Medical interns opposed the arrangement and staged strikes that disrupted services at several regional referral hospitals.
Dr Asiimwe said about 300 interns had not received their allowances, despite reporting for duty in August and providing services around the clock.
“Regarding the welfare and training of interns, residents and fellows, you mentioned that they should be given Shs2.5 million allowance. It was reduced to Shs1 million, and as we speak, 300 of these frontline workers didn’t even get that money. These interns report in August, and they work 24/7. Unfortunately, interns are classified as students,” he said.
The UMA president urged the government to consider the responsibilities interns undertake in hospitals when making decisions about their welfare and remuneration.
Museveni, however, said government commitments must reflect the resources available to fund them.
He invoked a proverb commonly used in Ntungamo to explain why public spending decisions must balance the needs of beneficiaries with the government’s financial capacity.
“I have listened to the MoU, and it is good. In whatever we do, we always look at affordability and sustainability. The two points. This is where I take you to Ntungamo people who will tell you the hen takes what it can swallow. If it takes what it can’t swallow, it may die in the process,” he said.
To illustrate his argument, Museveni recalled a period during Amanya Mushega’s tenure as education minister when about 11,000 students qualified for university admission, but Makerere University could accommodate only 2,000.
He said he supported private sponsorship to allow more students to pursue higher education rather than deny them admission because the government could not pay for everyone.
“On one hand, it is admitting that I can swallow only 2,000. However, why block the 9,000 if they can sponsor themselves? The families struggled and got money. Today there are thousands,” he said.
Museveni also backed proposals for tax exemptions for health workers and the establishment of a duty-free arrangement for essential items used in delivering health services.
“I also support the idea of tax exemption for the life savers. I don’t see what we lose if we say, let’s leave these. So if we say no more tax, whatever you are getting is all yours, and then we introduce the service shop where we can have a duty-free shop for life-supporting items. This will consolidate the public service health services,” he said.
