The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Council (KMPDC) on the instruction of the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Health conducted an inspection visit to KUTRRH on 20th July 2023. The inspection was conducted for accreditation of KUTRRH as a training site for Kenyatta University (KU) medical students in line with the Legal Notice No. 4 of 2019. Similarly, upon the directive from the CS, Health to the Nursing Council of Kenya, NCK inspected KUTRRH as a training site for KU nursing students on 10th July 2023.
KUTRRH and KU worked towards receiving the medicine and nursing students from KU after the signing of an MOU between the two institutions in December 2020.However, before the MOH intervention, KU had not yet taken the requisite steps towards implementation of medical education for its students. For medical education to take place in a hospital the said hospital must be accredited by the regulators, in this case KMPDC and NCK. A training institution wishing to use a hospital as its training site is required to apply to the respective regulators for approval and accreditation of the hospital. In this case therefore, for Kenyatta University students to be placed at KUTRRH for their rotations, the University needed to apply to KMPDC and NCK for inspection and accreditation. This process is aided by the existence of an MOU that indicates the agreed areas of collaboration and training.
This is what informed the development and signing of the MOU with KU. The KMPDC National Training and Quality Assurance Standards for Medical Schools and Teaching Hospitals in Kenya provides that during assessment of a teaching hospital, the parties must produce an agreement. The MOU signed by both institutions therefore provided a framework for the two institutions to work together .The MOU set out a Joint Implementation Committee whose role is to consider and agree on the implementation of medical education and research for staff and students. The Committee held several meetings in 2021 and thereafter experienced delays in the implementation of agreed-upon actions.
Further efforts were made by KUTRRH which resulted in a joint meeting of Heads of Departments from the University and the Hospital. In the meeting held on 8th September 2022, the Joint Team carried out a pre-inspection of the Hospital and agreed that it has the requisite facilities for medical education and research for KU students. Kenyatta University was thereafter expected to apply to the regulatory bodies for inspection and accreditation. By May 2023, there was no action from Kenyatta University, so KUTRRH suggested possible solutions to the stalemate. Among the options suggested was that the Ministry of Health intervene and require the regulatory bodies to carry out the inspection as per the regulations.
The approval from the regulatory bodies would enable undergraduate medicine and nursing students to be placed in KUTRRH. Placement of postgraduate students in medicine and nursing has remained open from the time the MOU was signed. In addition, the Hospital has been facilitating the placement of students from KU in all other disciplines including medical laboratory, public health, nutrition, biomedical engineering, health records, reproductive health, finance, ICT, administration among others that do not require regulatory approval. After the comprehensive assessment of KUTRRH by KMPDC, a report was submitted to KUTRRH with copies to relevant parties.
The report communicated the accreditation of KUTRRH as a teaching hospital for clinical training of Kenyatta University undergraduate MBChB medical students, noting that the facility can currently handle 100 students from KU. KMPDC further recommended that KUTRRH and KU operationalize the Joint Implementation Committee that will agree on the logistics and other matters. KUTRRH on its part takes this opportunity to thank the Ministry of Health and various actors who enabled this process to succeed. It is now hoped that students from KU will join others from other institutions like JKUAT, University of Nairobi, USIU-A, AMREF University, Egerton University, Moi University, Mount Kenya University, National Defense University, Nairobi Women’s College, and Mama Ngina University to further their skills at KUTRRH.
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