Govt drops internship requirement for extensor nurses

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The Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council (UNMC) has cleared the way for “extensor” graduate nurses and midwives to be licensed without undertaking the usual internship.

After consultations with the Ministry of Health, the Council announced on March 18, 2026, that these graduates can now register and obtain their professional licences, ending weeks of uncertainty over their status.

Forthwith, the Council has directed all eligible extensor graduates to begin their registration and licensure process through the Online Registration and Licensure System (ORLS) starting March 23, 2026.

To streamline the process, the UNMC provided specific instructions for the digital transition.

"Applicants should upload their existing certificate of registration in the slot usually reserved for the letter of completion of internship, " the council said in a statement, adding that practising licenses and temporary licenses must be combined into a single document for upload.

"All academic papers (UCE, UACE, and University transcripts) must be scanned as PDFs, while passport photos must be high-quality JPEGs or PNGs."

Graduates with expired licences are required to renew them before attempting the final registration.

The Council noted that the verification process for these submissions will take a minimum of two weeks.

What are extensor category professionals?

The “Extensor” category typically refers to nursing and midwifery professionals who have upgraded their qualifications, often from diploma to degree level, while already possessing significant field experience.

For years, a debate has persisted within Uganda’s medical community over whether these experienced professionals should undergo the same year-long internship as direct-entry graduates with no prior clinical exposure.

This matters because Uganda continues to grapple with nurse-to-patient ratios that fall below recommendations by the World Health Organisation.

Recent figures indicate there are roughly 2.27 nurses and midwives per 1,000 people, equivalent to about one nurse for every 440 people in the general population.

While the World Health Organisation does not prescribe a single universal ratio, it generally advocates for a minimum of 4.45 skilled health workers per 1,000 people to achieve essential health coverage.

By waiving the internship requirement for experienced extensors, analysts say the Ministry of Health can deploy fully licensed, highly trained practitioners into the workforce more quickly.

The policy shift, announced after UNMC consultations with the Ministry on March 3, 2026, recognises that clinical hours accumulated through prior practice meet the requirements for professional competence.

The move is expected to ease the backlog of graduates awaiting placement and provide a morale boost to the nursing profession.