The nurses celebrate during their graduation ceremony at Hotel Africana in Kampala
By Raymond Baguma
THE shortage of health workers should be addressed if Uganda is to attain its Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015, the Minister of Health, Dr. Stephen Mallinga, has said.
“There is need to train more health workers. Diseases like Ebola and Marburg present new health demands along with the need for sophisticated technology.”
This was contained in a speech read by the commissioner of nursing services, Margaret Chota, at the fifth graduation ceremony for Aga Khan University at Hotel Africana in Kampala on Tuesday.
A total of 52 students received diplomas and degrees in Nursing.
Mallinga said there were limited opportunities for training nurses and midwives, yet they constitute the largest percentage of healthcare providers in the country.
He also hailed the Aga Khan Foundation for contributing to the development of the health professionals in Uganda.
“Opportunities to strengthen the skills of nurses and midwives are limited, yet nursing is becoming more critical in health development.”
Dr. David Taylor, the acting head of the university, said they would expand their health education programmes in East Africa by setting up a Faculty of Health Sciences at the Aga Khan University campus in Nairobi.
The faculty, to cost $250m, will run undergraduate and post-graduate programmes targeting health practitioners, promoting health and epidemiology research. It will also have medical and nursing schools.
Ismailimail 