Vice President Jessica Alupo has pledged to lead the cabinet in reviewing the proposal cancelling Medical Interns’ allowances.

While appearing on the floor of the August House during the 4th plenary sitting of the 12th Parliament on June 10th, 2026, Alupo assured the House that the medical Internship proposal was going to be brought back to the table to be reviewed again.

“Allow us as government to return to the drawing board, discuss the issue of the proposed Medical Education and Internship Policy, and at the appropriate time, the Minister of Health will come with a clear statement,” Alupo said.

This is in response to the Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LOP), Joel Ssenyonyi’s motion where he raised the plight of medical interns after government recently proposed a move to cease paying them.

“I would like to urge government to, with immediacy, drop this problematic policy,” Ssenyonyi said.

In her response, Alupo emphasized the support the government has given to the science and medical training as a deliberate effort to help in the sector’s growth.

“The growth in the number of medical doctors and other science professionals is a result of deliberate government investment in science teaching and human resource development,” she noted.

Alupo added that laws are flexible and are mainly to give solutions to people’s problems.

“The laws we make are not cast in stones and our being here is to solve the problems of our people,” she added.

The Medical Education and Internship Policy has sparked debates between the Ministry of Health and the Medical trainees since it was proposed by the former Minister of Health, Dr. Ruth Aceng in April, 2026. The policy’s key clauses included the ‘no internship no degree’, scrapping of allowances and quality control.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi is expected to provide the parliament with a definitive government position on the matter in the next sitting.