Kenyatta University’s referral hospital will be equipped with tele-medicine facilities to enable local doctors and interns to consult with their peers in reputable hospitals worldwide.
Vice-Chancellor Prof Olive Mugenda said the new technology would reduce the need for Kenyans to seek treatment abroad and thus cut their medical costs.
The Sh9 billion hospital funded by the Chinese and Kenyan governments will also connect medics at the referral hospital with those in rural areas.
Speaking during the 30th graduation ceremony of the university last Friday, Prof Mugenda said the facility would have a cancer unit and a geriatric wing to provide health care for the old.
“The need for a cancer unit is justified by the increasing cases of the disease among our people,” she said.
Prof Mugenda appealed to the ministry of Higher Education to facilitate the equipping of the new ultra-modern school of engineering complex and a modern library.
Some 2,062 graduands were awarded certificates, diplomas and degrees during the ceremony.
Prof Mugenda said the university will this Friday officially launch a centre to equip students with the necessary skills to be job creators.
The Business Innovation and Incubation Centre will offer students office space, Internet facilities, capital to start businesses and assistance in marketing their products.
The centre has been established through a partnership with the Chandaria Foundation, National Council for Science and Technology, Youth Enterprise Fund, Telecom, Family Bank and the University of Western Ontario in Canada.
Prof Mugenda said the university was the first institution of higher learning in Kenya to register a non-profit foundation to seek funds for different activities.
She said the Kenyatta University Foundation has been registered in the United States, and it will soon be officially launched in Boston, Massachusetts.
The VC said the modern library with a 30,000 seating capacity will be completed in the next two weeks, and already new books valued at more than Sh400 million have been donated by the US Sabre Foundation to help stock it.
The minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology Prof Hellen Sambili praised the university for moving towards accelerated and double intakes.
This will finally ensure that those who score the minimum university qualification of C+ and above can join as government-sponsored students, but they will be expected to look for off-campus accommodation.
