The UK鈥檚听University of Manchester听has entered into a tripartite partnership with听six Kenyan universities and county governments to train manpower in a wide range of healthcare fields.
The move will include the setting up of a听Centre of Excellence for Healthcare Education and Training.
It will see county governments from the western region of the East African country raise nearly 拢1 billion from the听听to build “six new healthcare campuses” to train health personnel in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing programs, under licence from the UK university, the institution said in听听.
It will involve seven local universities spread in the region with one of them, Kisi University hosting the CoE that will have its spokes in local institutions of Maseno, Masinde Muliro, Egerton, Bomet and Kibabii universities.
Under the arrangement Manchester will support the development of the healthcare curricula through licensing of programs, staff development and technical advice in the design of “teaching spaces”, said vice dean for internationalisation, Keith Brennan.
鈥淚n the longer term, we will support the development of research capacity as we are already doing with another Kenyan institution, the听,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he Ministry of Education (Kenya) is the project sponsor and they are currently working with the treasury to obtain development partner funding to support the project. The estimated costs of the whole project are close to 拢1 billion currently,鈥� the dean told The听PIE News.
“There will be a significant legacy”
鈥淥ne of the development partners who will be approached will be UK Export Finance, but I am sure others will also be approached too.鈥�
The involvement of the county governments under the auspices of the听听is听due to healthcare being a devolved function in Kenya.
鈥淲hile the University of Manchester will be supporting the development of the healthcare curricula… other members of the Kenya UK Healthcare Alliance will support clinical uplift,鈥� Brennan explained.
The听听facilitates partnerships between UK institutions on health, including hospitals, research institutions and six Kenyan universities, the dean added.
Proper establishment of hospitals and associated healthcare education departments, schools of medicine under the CoE will start within the next 12 months dependent on sourcing funding.
鈥淭his will be a long-term project. The development of the curricula will take at least five years but the University of Manchester expects to be a much longer term partner and that there will be a significant legacy,鈥� Brennan further explained.
