Student numbers overwhelm Makerere medical school
KAMPALA. The number of students enrolled at Makerere University College of Health Sciences is overwhelming the institution, its principal Dr Charles Ibingira has said.
In an interview with this newspaper at the weekend, Dr Ibingira said the country’s oldest medical school is space-constrained and has inadequate resources for training the growing student numbers.
“The facilities at the department of Anatomy are old and were constructed for only 100 students, yet we are now expecting more than 250,” he said, referring to the 2017/18 academic intake.
He added: “There is need for modern and safe facilities because the numbers are ever increasing.”
The college is the leading training institution for top line health professionals in the country. Other institutions that train doctors are Mbarara University of Science and Technology and Gulu University.
Teaching structure
Although they are overwhelmed by students numbers, Dr Ibingira said they have enough cadavers (dead bodies) at the Department of Anatomy to enable eligible students perform a hands-on and gain critical skills for future clinical work.
The institution’s teaching structure, he, however, said has not expanded to cater for the needs of the high numbers of student, many of whom teach themselves through “self-determined learning”.
“With self-determined learning, the role of the teacher is to answer any questions arising from the students whenever they find hardships,” the principal said, adding: “The students are given dissection kits and divided in groups under supervision of a lecturer.”
Appeal for funding
Dr William Buwembo, the Anatomy department head, appealed for increased funding in experts to train graduate students who in turn can assist the training of undergraduate students.
It costs as much as $50,000 (Shs175m) to train a single doctoral medical student, he said although he did not provide a break-down.
“We need to increase on the number of postgraduate students who will assist in training undergraduates while at the same time doing research,” he said, adding that the department of Anatomy does not have a full professor among its 11 staff.
“The issue of space problems is not going to stop and that is not what I want to spend my time on but rather spend it on finding solutions by training enough PhD and Masters students,” Dr Buwembo said.
The chairman of the Parliamentary Health Committee, Dr Micheal Bukenya, disputed the narrative that the medical school is overwhelmed although he admitted that its Albert Cook library is outdated.
