(Published Wednesday, December 15, 2021)
The university had asked the Government to guarantee its $22m loan
By Vision Reporter
Amidst the growing demand for more medical personnel in Uganda, attempts to get another medical school still hang in balance.
There were plans by Ndejje University to start a medical school this year, had the Government guaranteed a loan request worth $22b (sh82.2b) that the institution made to a foreign bank.
By law, the Government can support private institutions, under a private- public partnership; as long as the project is in public interest.
However, there was a delay with the approval of the loan due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education sector.
“All academic institutions were paralysed, which greatly affected our plea for funding support since this would greatly affect the loan repayments. But we have resumed operations, and hope the Government can support us now,” Ndejje University fi nance manager Paul Kayongo explained.
The university has written to President Yoweri Museveni and the First Deputy Prime Minister, Rebecca Kadaga, seeking support from the Government to guarantee the loan.
Similarly, in a December 2, 2021 letter, the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Dr Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu, wrote to President Yoweri Museveni, requesting audience to have the matter brought to his attention.
If the medical school is established, it will be the 13th in the country. The medical school will also be a memorial icon of Luwero people’s contribution to the liberation war, and will also be used as a model of national transformation.
The university’s vice-chancellor, Prof. Eriabu Lugujjo, says: “By the mandate of the governing council, the university wants to set up the requisite infrastructure for a fully[1]fl edged medical school and start training health workers on a full spectrum next year.”
Background
Lugujjo says the First Lady’s team and the fi nance ministry, in early 2021, satisfactorily appraised the university’s capability to establish a medical school under appropriate financing arrangements.
The New Vision has established from sources in the finance ministry that in January, the First Lady and education minister, Mrs Janet Museveni, wrote to finance minister Matia Kasaija, requesting them to consider guaranteeing the university to acquire the loan from China Exim Bank.
The university had earlier requested to be guaranteed to borrow $8.9m, which Mrs Museveni asked the finance ministry to guarantee.
In a January 2021 letter, Mrs Museveni noted that she had received another letter, dated July 6, 2020, from the university’s vice-chancellor. In the letter, the university was seeking to revise the guarantee from $8.9m to $22m.
Prof. Lugujjo, in his February 2, 2021 letter, explained that the education ministry agreed to the raised amount of funds to be guaranteed ‘after a further comprehensive evaluation of our request and satisfactorily assessed our institutional capacity to undertake the proposed project with sovereign support’.
In her letter to the finance ministry, Mrs Museveni explained: “While I take note of the increase in the credit facility, I am also aware of the associated socio-economic benefits of establishing a medical school that is in line with the broader objective of the National Development Plan III. This is an addition to the fact that the university has demonstrated an impressive loan repayment record against the existing loan facilities advanced to it.”
But to get the guarantee, Mrs. Museveni had to write to the finance minister requesting for the guarantee of the loan as required by the Public Finance Management Act, 2015 and the attendant regulations.
Finance has already written to Ndejje University, asking them to furnish them with documentation of their financial transactions
Why Ndejje University?
Prof. Lugujjo says the First Lady, in 2017, when she visited the university, promised them Government support to establish a medical school.
“The need for establishment of health workers’ vocational training facilities is well in line with the education, healthcare and Government’s overall strategic priorities to the attainment of Uganda’s Vision 2040 development goals,” Lugujjo said.
He added that the university has many students on the Students Loan Scheme, along with other students who need to be supported to excel in sciences as per the Government programme. Out of the student population of over 8,000, two thousand are science students and the number, Prof. Lugujjo says, is projected to triple upon establishment of a medical school.
Is The Medical School Needed?
There is always massive competition for placement into medical schools, according to the Joint Admissions Board of Universities. It notes that only about 40% of the hundreds of students who apply to medical schools get vacancies in the 12 accredited medical schools.
“It is a fact that many students need credible medical schools, but are still limited in the country,” says the state minister for higher education, Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo.
According to the Uganda Annual Health Sector Performance Report 2014/2015, Uganda had a total of 81,982 health workers employed in the health sector.
The number of medical doctors was estimated at 4,811, accounting for 6% of the total health workforce in the country. General practitioners were estimated at 3,993, the equivalent of 83% of medical doctors in service.
The consequences in Uganda are clear: the doctor to patient ratio was estimated at 1:24,725 in 2013, with a nurse to patient ratio of 1:11,000. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends one physician per 1,000 people.
Each year, about 320 medical students graduate from Ugandan universities, more than in any other East African state.
Prof. Francis Omaswa, in a 2017 joint report with other experts, dubbed: “Brain drain to brain gain: Health workforce migration: A case study of general practitioners in Uganda”, says there is need for local training of Uganda’s medical practitioners. This is because most of the time when they are trained from abroad, due to brain drain, they never return to Uganda.
Accredited Medical Schools
Public universities
1. Makerere University College of Health Sciences: Mulago, Kampala: Founded in 1924
2. Mbarara University School of Medicine Mbarara, founded in 1989
3. Busitema University School of Medicine Mbale, founded in 2013
4. Gulu University School of Medicine Gulu, founded in 2004
5. Kabale University School of Medicine Kabale, founded in 2015
6. Soroti University School of Medicine Soroti, founded in 2019
Private universities
7. Kampala International University School of Health Sciences: Ishaka, Bushenyi: Founded in 2004
8. Habib Medical School Kibuli, Kampala, founded in 2014
9. St Augustine International University College of Health, Medical & Life Sciences: Mulago, Kampala: Founded in 2012
10. Clarke International University School of Medicine: Namuwongo, Kampala: Founded in 2008
11. Uganda Martyrs University School of Medicine: Nsambya, Kampala: Founded in 2010
12. Uganda Christian University School of Medicine: Mengo, Kampala: Founded in 2018.
