Give us back our hospital, say Kenyatta University students
President William Ruto, Health CS Susan Nakhumicha and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi during the commissioning of the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital Cyberknife Centre on April 24, 2023.
What you need to know:
- hey said failure to revert ownership of the hospital to the university puts the fate of the School of Medicine at risk as medical students are not allowed use of the hospital for their training needs.
- The hospital originally belonged to the university but was later converted into a parastatal whose board of directors is chaired the former vice chancellor Prof Olive Mugenda.
Kenyatta University (KU) students have demanded the return of the Kenyatta University Teaching Referral and Research Hospital back to the university management.
They said failure to revert ownership of the hospital to the university puts the fate of the School of Medicine at risk as medical students are not allowed use of the hospital for their training needs.
The demand opens up a new battleground between the two institutions and their managements. The hospital originally belonged to the university but was later converted into a parastatal whose board of directors is chaired the former vice chancellor Prof Olive Mugenda.
“Our medical school could soon be de-registered and over 2,000 students left in limbo. During the last audit conducted by the East African Community national medical and dental practitioners’ boards and councils, Kenyatta University was given six months to put its house in order.”
“This included access and ownership of the Kenyatta University Referral and Research Hospital and the ability to demonstrate it can conduct teaching and research which were the core factors that led the board to give approval for the KU medical teaching programmes,” KU students association treasurer and medical student Jafer Kasaya told journalists yesterday. This comes less than a week after President William Ruto allocated 30 acres of the university’s land to the World Health Organisation for the establishment of a regional logistics hub.
The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Paul Wainaina, has in the past vowed to ensure ownership of the hospital reverts to KU. Last year, he was suspended after he opposed plans to donate the university’s land to WHO, the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and Kamae squatters.
“It’s very painful. We worked to build the hospital and, when it was finished, it was taken away from us. We feel terrible that our students are unable to use its facilities,” said Prof Wainaina upon his reinstatement in November.
The students have threatened to take unspecified action if the dispute is not resolved within two weeks.
“Every morning, our students have to wake up as early as 4am and travel 40 kilometres for close to two hours on strained university transport facilities to Kiambu County Level Five Hospital, which is itself under-resourced, overcrowded and incapable of providing a stimulating environment for medical studies,” said Ms Kasaya.
