Salary guide · Uganda
Clinical officer salary in Uganda 2026/27: government pay on the U5, U4 and U3 scales
A clinical officer in a government post on scale U5 earns UGX 2,608,476 a month before tax. A Senior Clinical Officer on U4 earns UGX 4,408,476, and a Principal on U3 earns UGX 4,658,476.
Government pay for clinical officers follows Schedule 6 of the public service salary structure for 2026/27, the schedule for medical workers and health staff. The Health Service Commission's adverts give the scale for each post. They place Psychiatric, Ophthalmic and ENT Clinical Officers at U5, the Senior posts at U4 and a Principal Ophthalmic Clinical Officer at U3. Private hospitals and NGOs set their own pay, and we have no official figure for those.
| Post in the HSC advert, and scale | Gross pay | Take-home if outside NSSF |
|---|---|---|
| Psychiatric, Ophthalmic or ENT Clinical Officer: U5 (Med) | 2,608,476 | 1,937,683 |
| Senior Clinical Officer (ENT), Senior Psychiatric Clinical Officer: U4 (Med-2) | 4,408,476 | 3,197,683 |
| Principal Ophthalmic Clinical Officer: U3 (Med-2) | 4,658,476 | 3,372,683 |
Gross pay is from Schedule 6 of CSI No. 6 of 2026, where these lines read medical personnel in U5, and other medical personnel in U4 and U3. The adverts give the scale, and we've read the amount across from the schedule. Take-home is our sum from URA's bands, for a month with no Local Service Tax, rounded to the shilling, with PAYE of 670,793, 1,210,793 and 1,285,793 on the three lines. It leaves out loans and any allowances.
Is the plain Clinical Officer post the same?
The 2026 Health Service Commission adverts we opened named specialised posts: Psychiatric Clinical Officer, Ophthalmic Clinical Officer and Clinical Officer (ENT). We didn't see a plain Clinical Officer post in them. A general post at a health centre may be advertised by a District Service Commission, so check the scale in that advert. If it says U5, the health schedule's figure for U5 should be your guide, and you can ask the commission to confirm.
Worked example: UGX 2,608,476
Your PAYE is 33,750 plus 30% of the 2,123,476 above 485,000, which is 637,043. Added together, that's UGX 670,793 once rounded. If you're on the government pension scheme there's no NSSF, so UGX 1,937,683 reaches you in a month without Local Service Tax.
We haven't confirmed the pension terms of each post, so if your payslip shows NSSF, take off 5%, which is 130,424. That leaves UGX 1,807,259. At this pay Local Service Tax is UGX 100,000 a year, and it's usually deducted as 25,000 a month from July to October.
How to move up the scale
Going from U5 to U4 adds UGX 1,800,000 a month before tax, so promotion matters more than anything else on this page. The February 2026 advert for a Senior Psychiatric Clinical Officer asks for a Diploma in Mental Health or its equivalent and at least three years at the level of Psychiatric Clinical Officer. The Principal Ophthalmic Clinical Officer post asks for a Diploma in Clinical Ophthalmology and at least six years in the field, three of them at Senior level.
Each post sets its own terms, so read the one you want. A specialised diploma can also open posts that a general diploma doesn't.
Applying now, and what you'll need
The Health Service Commission's External Advert No. 2 of October 2026 closes on 16 November 2026. It lists U5 posts for Psychiatric and Ophthalmic Clinical Officers and Clinical Officer (ENT), and you must apply online at hscers.ug. It tells you to fill Public Service Form 3 and present it at the oral interview, and to scan your academic and professional certificates.
The advert also asks for registration certificates and valid practising licences from health workers the law requires to register. Clinical officers come under the Allied Health Professionals Council, and our guide below takes you through that. The Commission says all its services are free of charge, so don't pay anyone who says they can get you on the list.
What about private hospitals and NGOs?
We won't give you a typical private figure, because we have no source for one and very few adverts print their pay. If you get an offer, turn it into take-home pay with the calculator and set it against the government figures above. Ask about housing, night duty and how overtime is paid, since those can change the picture a lot.
Sources
Checked 2 November 2026. Each figure keeps the period and scope of its source.
- Ministry of Public Service: salary structure for 2026/27, CSI No. 6 of 2026, Schedule 6
- Health Service Commission: External Advert No. 2 of October 2026, summary
- Health Service Commission: External Advert No. 1 of February 2026
- Health Service Commission: eRecruitment system
- URA: PAYE rates for resident employees
- NSSF: membership and contribution rates
- KCCA: Local Service Tax questions and rates, February 2017