Before you start

Private medical cover through your employer or purchased directly
NSSF registration through payroll
A named clinic and hospital before you need one

Step-by-step

1
Confirm what your employer actually provides
Private cover is standard in professional packages. Check the annual limit, the inpatient/outpatient split, and whether dependants are included.
Via employerWho: Your employer
2
Register with a clinic in your first fortnight
IHK, Case, Nakasero and TMR are the common choices. Registering while well is much easier than registering with a fever.
In personWho: You
3
Set up your malaria plan
Nets, repellent, and knowing where the nearest rapid test is. Ugandan pharmacies test and treat cheaply and quickly; the mistake is waiting several days assuming a fever is flu.
In personWho: You
4
Check evacuation and out-of-country cover
For highly specialised treatment, referral to Nairobi or further is normal. Confirm your policy covers evacuation and treatment abroad, not only Ugandan bills.
OnlineWho: You
5
Confirm NSSF registration
The National Social Security Fund is a pension and savings scheme, not health cover. Employers register staff and contributions are deducted through payroll.
Via employerWho: Your employer

Documents you’ll need

Passport and immigration document
Private insurance card
NSSF registration details
Vaccination certificates including yellow fever
Evacuation policy details

Things most newcomers don’t know

Kampala's altitude does not protect you from malaria the way Nairobi's and Kigali's do.

At around 1,190 metres transmission in the city is real rather than theoretical, which catches out people relocating from the higher East African capitals with the same habits. Sleep under a net, use repellent in the evenings, and treat any fever as malaria until a rapid test says otherwise — testing takes fifteen minutes and costs very little.

Source: Ugandan health advisories and altitude-related transmission

NSSF is a pension fund, not health insurance.

New arrivals see a statutory deduction on the payslip and assume health cover is handled. It is not — the National Social Security Fund is a provident scheme. Uganda's national health insurance legislation has not translated into an operating universal payer, so the private policy is the whole of your cover.

Source: Uganda NSSF scheme structure

Do not swim in Lake Victoria, and this is not over-caution.

Bilharzia is present along the Ugandan shoreline and infection from a single swim is common enough that residents treat the lake as look-only. Sailing and boating are fine; entering the water is not. Visitors who ignore this frequently find out months later, when symptoms are non-specific and the cause is not obvious.

Source: Ugandan public health guidance

Evacuation cover is what you are actually buying.

Kampala's private hospitals handle routine and much serious care competently, but the referral pathway for complex cases runs out of the country. A policy paying Ugandan bills but not out-of-country treatment or air evacuation covers the cheap half of the risk. Read that clause specifically before relying on the policy.

Source: standard expatriate practice in Uganda

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming NSSF deductions mean you have health cover.
Treating a fever as flu for several days instead of taking a rapid malaria test.
Swimming in Lake Victoria.
Buying a policy that pays local bills but excludes evacuation and out-of-country treatment.
Not registering with a clinic until you are already ill.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.