MPs vet KIU medical school

BUSHENYI.

The Health Committee of Parliament last Friday visited Kampala International University-Western Campus in Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality to investigate allegations of inadequate staff and admission of low grade students into the medical school.

The team led the chairperson of the committee, Dr Michael Bukenya, also assessed the status and operations of government hospitals in the region.

Having toured the university and hospital teaching facilities the legislators held a two-hour closed door meeting with the management.

“We are here to do an objective assessment; to investigate claims of poor teaching infrastructure and low grade intakes. We have found out that they have enough staff and they have indicated to us that they will be getting more personnel. There is big investment in infrastructure development and human resource,” Dr Bukenya told journalists after the meeting.

He added: “They told us that they have other teaching sites at hospitals in Fort Portal, Hoima, Kiryandongo and Mubende.

As reagards admission of students, two principal passes for a university that is teaching sciences is not advisable, it should be changed. We shall engage the senate and council to see how to improve. We can solve these challenges without closing the school; we are going to work together with the administration and government.”

However, Mr Gordon Arinda, the Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality Member of Parliament, said government needs to take up KIU-teaching hospital as a regional referral hospital since there is none in the greater Bushenyi.

“All we need from government is to bring in a few resources and take it up as a regional referral hospital. It is not true that doctors training from here are of poor quality; they are actually training good doctors. Where there are weaknesses, they need our support as stakeholders,” Mr Arinda said.

He added that $2,500 government charges expatriate medical specialists at KIU every year is too much.

Mr Arinda said it deters medical specialists from working in Uganda yet they country has very few consultants.

“That means KIU which employs them spends a lot of money. We can lose them to the neigbouring countries,” he said.

He asked government to reconsider giving KIU teaching hospital Primary Health Care funds it has been receiving every financial year because of handling very many patients.

According to Mr Arinda, the Ministry of Health this financial year withheld PHC funds meant for a number of private health facilities.