Mount Kenya University (MKU) medical students will now access training facilities at the Kenyatta University Teaching Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH) following the signing of a partnership between the two institutions.
A collaboration agreement signed by the Vice-Chancellor Prof Deogratius Jaganyi and KUTRRH Chief Executive Ahmed Dagane has already seen 42 MKU medical sciences placed for clinical attachments.
Speaking during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, Dagane said key areas earmarked for strengthening through the MoU are training, capacity building and internships for health workers and students in both institutions.
He said the pact with MKU was in line with the Level 6 Referral hospital’s mandate as a training facility for medical students from across the country.
Additionally, some MKU students on attachment at the KU hospital in recent past for attachment in ICT were recruited to offer their services at KUTRRH as employees. Plans are also underway to conduct joint workshops in key areas of health including non-communicable and infectious diseases that will be co-hosted.
“Other key areas of partnership include access to specialized care at KUTRRH for MKU staff, collaboration in research and innovation promotion of engagement for sustainable development goals among others,” said the CEO.
Prof Jaganyi said the collaboration is an indicator that local institutions can work together to achieve their goals.
“We make mistakes by traveling to foreign countries to look for collaboration, yet the best collaborator is just next door,” said the VC who was accompanied by Prof Peter Wanderi, who is in charge of Training and Linkages at MKU.
Prof Jaganyi said the university has also partnered with the Referral Hospital in cancer research and other medical fields.
“Let us get the best out of this deal because we believe KUTRRH has cutting edge facilities that our medical students will use to train,” he said.
“The presence of our two institutions this afternoon in this room is a demonstration of a shared commitment to work together in serving the society through medical research and training for promotion of the medical service as a common good,” added the VC.
The VC said MKU has a student population of more than 60,000 across its campuses, which offers the basis for more collaboration with KUTRRH and colleges in Africa and beyond.
He commented Prof Wanderi and his team for tirelessly working towards achieving the training partnership with the referral hospital.
“Our Principal, College of Health Sciences and his team of five Deans of Schools are eagerly waiting for this agreement to be signed so that their students and staff can start using this faculty for attachments and internships,” said Prof Jaganyi.
The MKU training pact with KUTRRH which is renewable after every three years takes effect immediately.
In a different arrangement, Kenya’s creative economy has received a major boost after the university opened a talent academy much to the relief of the many talented students in film, music and drama.
Speaking during the launch, Prof Jaganyi told students talented in arts to take advantage of the academy to beat joblessness which he attributed to skill mismatch and lack of innovation and creativity.
The Kenya Film Classification Board acting CEO Pascal Opiyo, while launching the academy said the initiative will help address skill mismatch that has been a hindrance for young people pursuing creative economy careers.
In a speech read on his behalf by Nelly Muluka, the board’s Corporate Communication Manager, Opiyo said the objectives of the Talent Academy resonate with the government’s Bottom up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) and the Talanta Hela Initiative.
She said that the country’s 2019 Economic Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicates that the Kenyan film and broadcast industry directly employed 129,824 people in 2019, or about 4.5 percent of the country’s total employed workforce. In the same period, it is estimated that the Kenyan film and audiovisual sectors contributed Sh15 billion to the country’s GDP.
A report published by PWC Africa titled: Africa and Entertainment Outlook 2023-2026, projects that Kenya’s broadcast and entertainment industry will improve in the next three years with an estimated monetary value of 900 million USD by 2026.
“It is in the above context that the Government is convinced that the Creative Economy has the potential to transform Kenya’s fortunes and improve the livelihoods of our youth through job creation and income generation,” she said.
Muluka however called on content creators and local broadcasters to take advantage of the expanded airwaves to produce more local content and ensure that the same is examined by the KFCB for age appropriateness.
