The Director General of Health Dr. Patrick Amoth, made a courtesy call to the Vice- Chancellor, Mount Kenya University (MKU) through an invitation by the College of Health Sciences.
He was appraised of the various programmes offered by the college. The university is committed in training healthcare professionals as well as complying with relevant regulatory agencies.
The team visited the two ultra moden nursing skills laboratory that hold two high fidelity manniquine and an operating theatre among other teaching models.
The Director General was briefed on university collaboration with JICA in the malaria elimination project- Japan constructed Malaria Elimination Centre at a cost of Ksh 100 million.
MKU has synergetic public-private partnership with Kiambu County Government at Thika Level 5 Hospital where the University has constructed a Funeral home cum Anatomy laboratory at a cost of Ksh 300 million and renovated a Dental clinic at the hospital as part of the university Community engagement initiatives.
The Director General informed the Vice Chancellor of the four pillars of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC); one of which is human resource training and recruitment of healthcare workforce where the University plays a big role.
He called for continued consultation by the university when mounting health academic programmes with the Ministry of Health.
He emphasised the need to train more health professionals to bridge the shortage especially in the sub -saharan Africa.
He highlighted the challenges facing the scope of practice of oral health graduates, internship challenges for Dental Technologists and community oral health officers.
He also committed to support the University with advice when launching new programmes like Bachelor’s Degree in Dental surgery which is in the pipeline.
He toured the University’s laboratories and Thika Level 4 Dental clinic, MKU College of Health Sciences houses and five Schools- Medical School, School of Pharmacy, School of Clinical Medicine, School of Nursing, and School of Public Health.
MKU has continued to partner with industry and institutions to offer practical training to the students.
