Tag Archives: Medical School

UCU Nursing students Babirye Tamara Peace and Kakooza Abdul Wahabu practice a birth simulation with “Baby Nicole.”

Uganda Christian University launches master’s in midwifery program

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UCU Nursing students Babirye Tamara Peace and Kakooza Abdul Wahabu practice a birth simulation with “Baby Nicole.”
UCU Nursing students Babirye Tamara Peace and Kakooza Abdul Wahabu practice a birth simulation with “Baby Nicole.”

Uganda Christian University (UCU) is launching a new program – a master’s course in midwifery and women’s health – under its School of Medicine. At the request of UCU Partners, Ugandan writer Constantine Odongo had a chat with Elizabeth Namukombe Ekong, a lecturer in the medical school’s nursing department. What follows is some of this conversation related to the new program. 

What programs are under the department of nursing?
We have undergraduate and master’s programs in the department. In the Bachelor of Nursing Science, which began in 2006, we have two entry points – nurses with diploma, but want to get bachelors; and the direct entry right from S6 (high school graduation). The completion program takes three years for nurses already experienced, while the other entry takes four years. The master’s in nursing started in 2008. We are now introducing the master’s in midwifery and women’s health.

Students Kiribata Dorothy, Bagenda Isaac, and Mbulaka Remmy Allan with a practice plastic baby as part of their training in the UCU nursing program.
Students Kiribata Dorothy, Bagenda Isaac, and Mbulaka Remmy Allan with a practice plastic baby as part of their training in the UCU nursing program.

When does the new course start?
In 2017, the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) approved our curriculum, but we have not had the personnel the NCHE insisted on. They insisted on staff with master’s degrees in midwifery, yet most of us have masters in nursing. We have been looking around for personnel. The challenge we have had is that in Uganda, only one university has been offering this course, so not many people have the skill set that NCHE required. The other challenge is many people who opt to pursue master’s degree studies are already established somewhere else. So, it is not for us to uproot them from their already set systems. There are some people who have expressed interest, so the university actually put up advertisements in January, calling for people to apply for the position of lecturer in midwifery. As this year (2020) is the Year of the Nurse and Midwife (designated by the World Health Assembly under the World Health Organization in honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale), it is appropriate that UCU starts the master’s in midwifery. 

Which people are you working with to ensure that the program kicks off?
We are trying to put up a team as NCHE recommended. The other thing is we have partners who are professors with PhDs in midwifery and are willing to come and teach and also offer online interactions, since the program design is a modular one. We have two professors from the United States – one from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and another from Bethel University in Minnesota. They are ready to start the teaching in May, if we have set our intake to start and we have finally got the required number of students, the personnel and the clearance from NCHE. We are making arrangements for the professors to come and make the physical preparations.  We expect the face-to-face teaching to happen three times a year. 

Elizabeth Namukombe Ekong, nursing lecturer
Elizabeth Namukombe Ekong, nursing lecturer

Who helped you design the curriculum for the midwifery master’s course?
We developed it from a prototype curriculum that was designed from a program by the East, Central and South African College of Nursing (ECSACON). The ECSACON prototype is the same that many universities in the region use to develop their curriculum. We undertook a study to review the status of midwifery in the region and established that there was a need to provide a platform for the existing midwifery cadres to upgrade their skills at master’s level. When developing the curriculum, some of the areas the study looked at is the number of midwives in the country, the mortality rates, etc. From the ECSACON prototype curriculum, we developed ours for the master’s course, with assistance from colleagues in the UK. When we were satisfied that it was ready, we passed it through the approval process up to the university Senate and the NCHE. With the approval in 2017, it meant that the moment we get the relevant personnel with a master’s degree in midwifery, we would be ready to start.

What achievements has the nursing department registered?
We have developed skilled competent and dependable nurses with the passion and faith to render services across the continent, but also offer leadership. Our graduates have been absorbed in different institutions, both state and non-state and the feedback we get about their conduct is encouraging. We have had collaborations with facilities where we send our students for placement, like Uganda-China Friendship Hospital Naguru, the hospitals of Nsambya, Mulago, Butabika, Jinja referral and many others.

Some of our students are Assistant District Health Officers, and some are in charge of medical facilities and in other leadership positions in hospitals. Others are working at the Ministry of Health.

What is in the curriculum for the midwifery master’s program that you are soon launching?
The curriculum is designed with two tracks: Education and Practice as the program prepares educators and practitioners We have areas of midwifery education, which involves teaching and learning, curriculum development, measurement and evaluation; we also have an area on research and statistics. We have another area of midwifery leadership courses and management, so our students are able to graduate with better management and leadership skills.

There are foundation science courses like pathophysiology, pharmacology, and advanced health assessment in maternal and infant care. Other profession-based foundation courses offer an opportunity for the students to learn theories in nursing/midwifery, together with advanced courses in normal and abnormal midwifery. With other partner universities both here in Uganda and beyond, we share courses to do with cultural diversity, trends and issues in midwifery, neonatal and women’s health. Students also go for an international module (internship) to strengthen their teaching approaches and clinical experiences.

The students also take selected courses in advanced clinical practice from areas of their desired specialty in maternal and child health. Health care systems is another course taught to enable students understand the major elements, dynamics, determinants and organizational themes in public health, policy issues and health financing.

How have you taken care of the developments in information and communications technology as far as your course is concerned?
We intend not to leave our graduates behind as far as information and communications technology is concerned. We have lined up a course in informatics, which involves the application of technology in what they learn. We expect to take the students through online healthcare packages, how they can remotely follow up on patients and network with the online medical ecosystem in order to know a patient’s medical history and other things.

Many women, especially those in rural areas, still opt for traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to deliver them, citing harassment from midwives. What is your department doing to reverse this phenomenon?
We always emphasize professional ethics and Christian values in our students and that is why we have faith-based and foundation courses to see how virtues of the respect for one’s work is instilled and how the students ought to relate with their clients. In the midwifery curriculum, for instance, we have integrated Christian worldview to help students relate and handle our clients from a Christian perspective.

Why should we separate nursing from midwifery? Would it be better to equip the students with both skills, so the medical field gets multi-skilled professionals?
At UCU, the Bachelor of Nursing Science teaches concepts of both nursing and midwifery, just like the undergraduate course, which teaches medicine and surgery. The specialization occurs only at post-graduate level. That said, there are universities that offer bachelor’s degrees in midwifery. It’s also important to note the difference between the work of a midwife and a nurse. A midwife’s work involves care for women and families whereas a nurse is involved with the general health of everyone. Midwives focus on women, children, pregnant women, reproductive health issues and educating the community about the same. 

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To support this Uganda Christian University program and others as well as students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at mtbartels@gmail.com.

Butabika National Referral Hospital, in Kampala, Uganda, is the country’s only mental health facility.

UCU nursing graduates seek to fill gap in Ugandan mental health care

Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, UCU School of Medicine, , , ,


 

By Douglas Olum

When Conrad Ochola suffered depression in 2017, he heard a voice in his head.

He walked before his elder sister with whom he lived and threw off some of his clothes. The abnormal action shocked not only the sister but also the rest of the family. They were not aware that Ochola, then a new graduate of Uganda Christian University (UCU), had battled his mental state for some time. He hadn’t slept for months, with strange voices constantly screaming in his head. One of the voices persuaded him to throw himself in a pit latrine. He survived because the hole leading into the pit was too small to swallow him.

Through those months, Ochola, suffering in part due to the loss of his mother, lived in fear of death, saw things in twos and dodged meals because every time he ate, he would feel pain as though he was eating his own body parts. He never told anybody.

Butabika National Referral Hospital, in Kampala, Uganda, is the country’s only mental health facility.
Butabika National Referral Hospital, in Kampala, Uganda, is the country’s only mental health facility.

It was when the 24-year-old stripped naked that the family came to realize that he indeed needed mental health care. They rushed him to Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital, where he was diagnosed with depression. After months of medication in this only such facility in Uganda, Ochola recovered.

Ochola, a marketing executive at a Uganda investment company called Xeno, is an example of how proper mental health assistance can make a positive difference.

Daniel Ojok, a high school graduate, wasn’t so fortunate. He crashed himself onto a speeding truck in December 2018 along the Gulu-Juba highway, days after dropping suicide hints that nobody got. The late Ojok is like millions of Ugandans who need mental healthcare but do not get it.

One mass example is in northern Uganda where thousands still suffer the traumatic consequences of the two-decade Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency, hundreds have committed suicide and more still continue to do.

A recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report indicates that at least 1.7 million Ugandans (about 4.6% of the total population) suffer from depressive disorders and another 3% suffer from anxiety. Depressive disorder is a condition characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, feelings of tiredness and poor concentration. Two years ago, the WHO ranked Uganda among the top six African countries heavily affected by mental health issues.

The Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau (UPMB), a charitable and technical national umbrella organization, reports that 98% of people with mental health issues in the country do not have access to care.

The problem is attributed to lack of community-based psychiatric care facilities, poverty that incapacitates many families from taking their mentally ill members for medication and the misconception that mentally ill people are connected to witchcraft, the latter often subjecting victims to rituals that, unfortunately,cause further harm to their mental states.

Butabika Hospital currently has up to 900 patients – double its capacity. A Butabika nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity said most times the extra patients are admitted because they have no where else to go.

Often, those afflicted with mental health issues roam the streets. Men and women dressed in rags, with dirty, twisted hair and many times carrying sacks of rubbish, stroll along streets of urban places across the country or seated in isolated places, mumbling junks of sentences.

Training institutions such as the Uganda Christian University aim to lessen the Butabika overload and the number of victims on the streets.  The department of Nursing, for instance, is equipping student nurses with psychiatric nursing skills. Throughout their final semester of studies, students pursuing the Bachelor of Nursing Science, spend at least a day every week serving and learning at the Butabika Mental Hospital.

Mrs. Jemimah Mary Mutabazi, the head of the Department of Nursing at UCU, said as a department, they have been teaching mental health since the approval of their curriculum in 2006.

“It is part of curriculum because we want to equip our nurses with skills that enable them provide holistic care to their clients. Nurses work with people of different kinds including mentally ill patients and we want them to be able to handle all cases professionally,” Mutabazi said.

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For more of these stories and experiences by and about Uganda Christian University (UCU) programs, students and graduates, visit https://www.ugandapartners.org. If you would like to support UCU, contact Mark Bartels, Executive Director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/

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Uganda Christian University School of Medicine students are (left to right) Peter Kabuye, Richard Ogwal, Ayikoru Hilda Diana, Birungi Beatrice, Ampumuza Davis and Ronnie Mwesigwa (UCU Partners photo)

UCU Year One – School of Medicine Student Reflections

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Uganda Christian University School of Medicine students are (left to right) Peter Kabuye, Richard Ogwal, Ayikoru Hilda Diana, Birungi Beatrice, Ampumuza Davis and Ronnie Mwesigwa (UCU Partners photo)
Uganda Christian University School of Medicine students are (left to right) Peter Kabuye, Richard Ogwal, Ayikoru Hilda Diana, Birungi Beatrice, Ampumuza Davis and Ronnie Mwesigwa (UCU Partners photo)

Note: Uganda Christian University (UCU) Partners selected a sample of the UCU School of Medicine inaugural class with feature stories on each in 2018 and the intent for an annual follow up. Here, at the end of two semesters, are edited responses to two questions posed by the Partners team of Brendah Ndagire, Pauline Nyangoma, Douglas Olum, Frank Obonyo, Alex Taremwa and Patty Huston-Holm.

Qn1. What is one new experience?

Mwesigwa Ronnie, surgery and medicine
The new experience I have this semester is the practicals. Also, I am having two more tests before the end of the semester. The lecturer had travelled out of the country, and she just returned. So we are having the tests before we begin our exams the other week (in about two week’s time).

Ampumuza Davis, surgery and medicine
There are plenty of off-putting myths about being a medical student, but in reality, it is enjoyable, interesting and highly rewarding especially in light of what we are working towards. This semester has exposed me so much and ignited me to go beyond the basic lecture material and satisfy my curiosity about what I have been taught especially in anatomy classes. Clearly, I am confident that I will make a crucial difference to my patients.

Beatrice Birungi, surgery and medicine
Towards the end of March, our class had a clinical exposure. It was so amazing to see a mother deliver a baby naturally without going through a caesarian operation. I was very happy because it gave me hope that with skills and commitment, I will save lives of babies and mothers who die in my country due to ill-equipped facilities and poorly trained health workers.

Kabuye Peter, dentistry
Clinical exposure sessions are amazing. We divide ourselves into smaller groups that rotate around the different departments of medicine (medicine, pediatrics, surgery and gynecology and obstetrics) weekly. These sessions enable us to apply our theoretical knowledge.

Richard Ogwal, dentistry
I enjoy clinical exposure (practical sessions) in the hospital wards, the lecturers are friendly and full of words of encouragement, students are cooperative in discussing academic work, and l thank God l am passing the progressive examination tests. Leadership. I have no new roles and responsibilities yet but I am still holding the previous post as the boys’ representative.

Ayikoru Hilda Diana, dentistry
The clinical exposures this semester have been very interesting and helpful in mastering the lectured work. For example, this semester we did embryology and whenever we went to obstetrics and gynecology, the gynecologists showed us the anomalies we learned. One day, we witnessed a mother giving birth to a baby and thereafter studied the placenta. In pediatrics, we were taught how to diagnose on two different occasions. The first time, we were taught about pneumonia and the pediatrician then asked us to try to diagnose and categorize a child who seemed to have the same signs as those of pneumonia. We went through all the procedures from interviewing the parent of the child and looking at the signs he presented. In the end we diagnosed the child with severe pneumonia, which turned out to be wrong. He simply had asthma. On the second occasion, we were taught about diarrhea in infants and repeated the procedure for diagnosis and indeed the child had come to hospital with severe diarrhea with dehydration, but by then she had improved. Without this exposure, I would never have related theory to reality.

Qn2. Other than money, what are two challenges you face now?

Mwesigwa Ronnie, surgery and medicine
My only challenge this semester is the workload. They have introduced us to practicals that we did not have last semester. We have two practicals every week after which we have to write reports. And that means we also have to write two reports every week in addition to the lectures and tests that we may have. That has cut down on the time I would have for reading that would refresh my mind.

Ampumuza Davis, surgery and medicine
I knew being a medical student would involve working harder than I have ever worked in my life, but I didn’t realize how hard that would be. I have a lot other responsibilities alongside my studies that involve looking for school fees and supporting my siblings. Secondly, the school has no sports facilities, gym and much more at the main campus. The school also should work towards acquiring updated textbooks in the library and expand our learning rooms for they are congested.

Beatrice Birungi, surgery and medicine
We have a lot of reading that we barely have time for personal life. This is a challenge because my life is not balanced without the social aspect. However, I am trying to work out my own schedule to ensure that I have a better-balanced life. At the medical school, we still adequate space.  We are 60 in total, and there is no room for reading and in lecture rooms.

Kabuye Peter, dentistry
My first challenge is commuting from home. It is cheaper than staying at the university hostels, but challenges my studies with time on the road. The second challenge is learning space with 60 students in small lecture rooms that are often hot and not air-conditioned.

Richard Ogwal, dentistry
The experience I have had so far has made me realize that medical school is so demanding not only on matters of academic concentration but also on time, scholastic materials and personal requirements. We are still doing mostly medicine-related work as opposed to dentistry, but l am comfortable because there are many similar things that I used to do as a Clinical Officer. With so much academic work, including foundation units, filled with assignments, report writings and recently introduced practical sessions, there’s almost no time for leisure or checking in with my family that expects me to pay tuition for my siblings. It is a stress factor that I am afraid could affect even my performance. We have no facilities for sports that could help lessen the stress.

Ayikoru Hilda Diana, dentistry
There’s so much to do in such a little time in medical school. I have to attend lectures the whole day, find time to write reports, assignments and do personal study. It’s really hard to fit all these in. One week, I had three very long reports to write for biochemistry and physiology practical. I also had two essays to write and a test. I learned not to procrastinate anything, from personal study to assignments because they eventually pile up and become very hard to complete. I also changed my strategies of studying. I discuss more with my classmates to improve understanding. It also is important to actively participate in lectures and labs. For example, dissection for anatomy opens up your mind about a particular topic and saves you some time as you read. The other problem I’ve faced is having enough time for family, friends and fun. Most people assume that I’m always busy and find it unnecessary to invite and inform me, which causes me to feel alone. Going out refreshes my brain. I also ensure that I go to church on Sundays so as to interact with people and my family after the service.

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Those interested in helping students like these become part of the solution to Uganda’s health care system or providing other support to UCU can contact UCU Partners Executive Director Mark Bartels at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/.

For more of these stories and experiences, visit https://www.ugandapartners.org.

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Rural Kabale doctor serves patients in God’s Name

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By Patty Huston-Holm

Outside rural Rugarama Hospital in Kabale, Uganda (UCU Partners Photo)

It’s not unusual for a doctor to be from the Kabale village of Uganda. The rural, southwestern community that is about a 30-minute drive from the border of Rwanda has been a breeding ground for many who dreamed and realized a career in medicine. Yet, with degree in hand, they don’t come back.

“Most of them are practicing in the UK or the United States – or at least in an urban location,” said Dr. Gilbert Mateeka, superintendent of Kabale’s Rugarama Hospital since 2008. “It’s not easy to get doctors wanting to work in a rural area.”

70% of Uganda’s doctors serving 12% of country’s patients
According to a 2016 report of Parliament Watch, an initiative of the Uganda Centre for Policy Analysis, 70% of Ugandan doctors work in cities serving 12% of Uganda’s population.

“There was never any question that I would come back,” Dr. Gilbert said. “Most people see being a doctor as something prestigious. I see what we do as that of a servant.”

Rural or urban, the Uganda health problems are the same. Non-communicable conditions of hypertension and diabetes are on the rise. While tuberculosis is nearly wiped out in developed countries, the infectious disease exists and is on the rise among the Ugandan 15-49 age group, largely because of HIV-weakened immune systems.  Malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia are commonplace.

Rural challenges – lower literacy, less technology
While doctors are needed everywhere, rural areas tend to be more challenged by illiteracy among the population and substandard technology in facilities.  Residents outside of cities aren’t as open to lessons about nutrition and malnutrition and cautions about traditional healers and witch doctors.

“The healers are unregulated,” Dr. Gilbert said. “While they aren’t all bad, the spectrum of who they are and what they practice is so broad that people can’t know what they are getting.”

“Bonesetters,” for example, may be able to attend to some medical problems with success. On the other hand, more complicated fractures if attended to by a bonesetter can result in a deformed limb, chronic bone infection and other complications.  The risk is much less with a licensed medical doctor.

In the midst of a September work day, Dr. Gilbert, age 45, reflected on what brought him to a career in medicine. There was no dramatic event but simply his childhood exposure to the problems that members of the congregation brought to his father as a pastor and watching a UK nurse, Jenny Tustian, who lived nearby. As a 10-year-old, he was most impressed with how the British nurse embraced not only her job but also the understanding of the Rukiga language.

“I knew early on that I wanted to do something to help people,” he said.

In a toss up between careers in medicine and in the clergy, medicine won, largely due to a scholarship from China Medical University in Shenyang, China. When finished, he knew he was coming home to practice.

“It was a bit of a shock at first,” Dr. Gilbert recalled. “The medical technology, hospital systems and the organized reliable supplies I learned with were no longer at my disposal. In the first month while on internship at Mulago National Referral Hospital, for any procedure on the patient, I kept looking for a standard procedure room and appropriate ready-to-use sterile procedure set but in vain.”

Creative with God attending
He laughed at the remembrance of seeing another doctor being “the procedure room” by making rounds at Mulago Hospital with gauze swabs and syringes falling from his pockets.

On completion of an internship at Mulago in Kampala, he came back to Kabale to work with Rugarama Hospital, a Church founded Hospital. For a number of years he was the only medical doctor at the facility.

With some adjustments, much is the same today for the five Rugarama doctors weaving in and out of triage, emergency, abandoned baby, eye care, dental care and maternity sections to see an average of 120 patients a day.  While the scope of services has widened significantly at the Rugarama Health facility to include surgery and health training, the daily care routine and cost to patients has remained much the same for 10 years. The cost to deliver a baby, for example, is 90,000 shillings, or just over $25.

Hospital grounds, viewed from top of maternity building (UCUPartners Photo)

“In a sense, it’s more creative this way,” he said. “You must think outside the box to do everything with nothing.”

For Gilbert A. Mateeka, there has never been a look back to a career where he might be making more money and be better known. He is pleased to be in rural Kabale – living with his wife (an English lecturer at Bishop Barham University College/UCU Regional Campus) and four children, including one who was once an abandoned baby at the hospital.

“This profession is a ministry,” he said.  “We respect our patients as God’s children.  God is watching by the patient’s side as an attendant to both the patients and us the health workers. Our mission is to show the love of Christ in whatever service we offer our patients.”

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For more information about how you can support Uganda Christian University School of Medicine so that future doctors can make a difference as Dr. Gilbert is, contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners executive director, at mtbartels@gmail.com.

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UCU medical school director’s memoir offers personal glimpse of 1952-2016 history in Uganda

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Dr. Ned with his memoir (UCU Partners Photo)

By Patty Huston-Holm

Unless you speak the Runyankore tribal language, you might be intimidated by a book entitled “Ndyamuhaki!” The author, Ugandan Edward (Ned) Kanyesigye, explains that what appears to be a single word on the front of his memoir “is actually a sentence.”

“It’s hard to explain in English,” he admits while pointing to the chapter 13 epilogue on pages 150 and 151. These final two pages illuminate the author’s fondness for a southwestern Uganda Rukiga hymn based on the Psalm 116:12 question of “What shall I return to the Lord for His goodness to me?” Specifically, the song’s chorus is sung as “Ndyamuhaki Yesu” with the rhetorical question: How can I ever thank Jesus?

Like many individuals coming to the end of life on earth, Kanyesigye – known more affectionately as “Dr. Ned” – sat down in his early 60s and started to document his life. His version of that life was published in 2016 but has more recently come to the attention of readers because of Dr. Ned’s role in the start of Uganda Christian University’s new School of Medicine. As a medical doctor who has seen and studied first-hand the need for such a school, he was instrumental in the four years of discussion and planning and in the September 2018 launch of the first class of future doctors and dentists.

In the first few chapters, he describes his “rags to riches” story. The beginning is typical of a child growing up in a Third World country. His father was an alcoholic and absent, including when he spent time in prison for “careless loss of money at work.” Ned got his first ride in a car at age 11. He entered secondary school with no shoes. Paying education tuition was an ongoing struggle.

Among the most memorable childhood stories was the author’s first recollection of death, including seeing iron nails for the first time as carpenters pounded them into his grandfather’s coffin. His late-teens’ entry into medical school includes a description of seeing cadavers – a memory that no doubt resonates with watching his medical school students’ experience with that today. His candor is refreshing throughout, including when he describes how he graduated from medical school a year late because of grades on the surgery portion of the examination and explains why his belief in God was so strong.

“Many of us who came from poor backgrounds tended to be more religious,” Ned, now age 66, penned on page 47. “When you were poor you…look up to the Creator for a happier, richer and more progressive life.”

The author is equally as honest about when he was doing well financially, namely when he was hired as a behavioral scientist doing work in Uganda for a medical research council based in the UK, and during his 26 years with Uganda Health (Civil) Services. In addition to travels around the west, southwest and central parts of Uganda, his work and scholarship opportunities took him to every continent except South America, including the countries of China, England, Australia and the United States.

In addition to his growing up years, the most turbulent times were when working and studying in the midst of government transition turmoil. As Ned discusses his study and work, he weaves in his connection – lack of food, water and supplies and the presence of gunshots – to the historical transition of power in Uganda. He tells us what he was doing during Milton Obote’s leadership related to independence from the British in 1962 to Idi Amin’s rein of terror in the 1970s to the National Resistance Army led by current president Yoweri Museveni.

For non-African readers, the text may be slowed by unfamiliar-sounding names of people and Ugandan geographical locations and understanding of certain cultural references (i.e. matooke is a type of banana). Chapters 11 and 12 that list main achievements and appreciation to family and friends, respectively, can be ignored except by those listed there. And the formula of starting most chapters with a time frame would have been better served by using one of Ned’s many rich stories at the onset.

That said, “Ndyamuhaki!” is a good read. This book is worth the time for those desiring a better understanding of Ugandan history with a first-person twist and to learn the life story of a leader for the new UCU School of Medicine.

Medical school director, left, with UCU Partners Board Member, Jack Klenk, in October. (UCU Partners photo)

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Information about the book can be obtained from Dr. Ned at ekanyesigye1@gmail.com. More information about the Uganda Christian University School of Medicine can be obtained at https://www.ugandapartners.org/priority-projects or http://ucu.ac.ug/component/k2/item/25-ucu-to-launch-her-medical-school.

Those wishing to support the school from the United States can contact Mark Bartels, executive director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/ To support the UCU School of Medicine from Uganda, send mobile money on 0772 770852 (Uganda Christian University) or email development@ucu.ac.ug.

Uganda Christian University’s new medical school becomes personal for Vice Chancellor

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UCU Vice Chancellor John Senyonyi and grandson

“I was sick and you visited me… truly I tell you whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” – Matthew 25:36-40

By the Rev. Canon Dr. John Senyonyi, Vice Chancellor, Uganda Christian University

My grandson, coming up on two years in 2018, is a stark reminder of what Uganda doesn’t have in medical care. Despite all my education and connections, as well as those of my wife, Ruth, we were powerless to find anyone in our country who could fix his tiny heart that was broken from birth. My daughter and her husband flew with their five-month-old son to India, while we remained behind and prayed.

Today, as I cuddle him in my arms, melt under his smile and watch him run around our kitchen, I am reminded that men, women and children die more often in poor countries like mine.

The World Health Organization ranks Uganda’s healthcare as one of the worst in the world. Data verifying our provider deficiencies are:

  • One of every 300 births ends a mother’s life.
  • Malaria causes 14% of our deaths.
  • One million people have HIV.

The Uganda Ministry of Health noted these among many other facts and factors in a development plan issued in 2015. Among data in this report are 45 infant deaths per 1,000 births and a Ugandan average life expectancy of less than 60 years. To put our need in perspective, the USA infant mortality rate is 7 per 1,000, and in the UK, the average person can expect to live to age 80. The Uganda “Vision 2040” plan addresses our deficiencies with goals over two decades.

Accomplishment by 2040 is too far away. We can’t wait.

That Uganda needs more doctors to resolve our health issue is without question. The World Health Organization reports 1 doctor per 13,000 Ugandans compared to 1 per 400 citizens in the United States. To churn out these doctors, Uganda needs more medical schools.

What gives Uganda Christian University an edge in producing medical practitioners is not only institutional oversight for knowledge and skill, but also the moral and ethical ties to Christianity. In short, doctors who are strong in Christian faith care more about people they serve.

It took quite a bit of convincing – two years in fact – for me to agree that our university should start a medical school. My biggest concern was the cost. We didn’t have it. We still do not have all the money we need to effectively run the medical school without compromising other units of the university. And we prided ourselves in running a fiscally responsible institution.

We prayed quite a bit as we still do about that ongoing need of funding for books, equipment, student tuition and facility space. The answer was that what we didn’t have God and His people would provide. We took a leap of faith.

The first Uganda Christian University School of Medicine’s 60 students – 50 in medicine and 10 in dentistry and more than half female – started classes in early September of 2018 with hopes to graduate this first class in 2022.

Adding dentistry and medicine programs was a natural outgrowth of our university’s health-related programs that evolved in the institution’s 21-year history. In the months before the School of Medicine official launch on September 14, 2018, the university’s Faculty of Health Sciences became the UCU School of Medicine (SoM), folding in the already existing programs of nursing, public health, and Save the Mothers health administration with the new medicine and dentistry tracks.

The Mengo Hospital and Uganda Christian University collaboration was a given with our quality standing among East African universities, our university’s nearby Kampala campus and Mengo’s reputation as Uganda’s oldest hospital and its modernization in the 121 years since its inception. In addition to acknowledging the need, both partners already had shared values of ethics, holistic practices, compassion and “witness of Jesus Christ.” Additionally, the medical school supports our university’s strategic plan to increase science programs and its design to enhance evidenced-based practice and research. The programing also aligns with Uganda’s goal to expand science-related careers.

Data was a main driver to start the medical school. In addition to what I already shared, more than half of Uganda’s citizens have no access to public health facilities, and 62% of health care posts are unfilled. Respiratory and blood pressure issues are increasing alongside HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis, malaria and diabetes. At that, there are simply some health problems – like a baby’s failing heart – we are not equipped to handle.

I realize that most Ugandans can’t afford to fly a loved one 5,500 kilometers (3,418 miles) away for a life-saving procedure. I know, too, that UCU’s medical school can’t heal all the sick or eliminate Uganda’s health care needs. But what we’re doing will make a dent.

With the hand of God and His people, the first class of the Uganda Christian University School of Medicine is up to the task. They are doing it for my grandson, for all of Uganda’s 35 million people and for those yet to come.

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More information about the Uganda Christian University School of Medicine can be obtained in a launch story at http://ucu.ac.ug/component/content/article/92-emergency/91-ucu-medical-school-launch-pictorial?Itemid=437 and at https://www.ugandapartners.org/2018/09/ucu-launches-school-of-medicine-with-foresight-planning-prayer/ and in a fact sheet at https://www.ugandapartners.org/priority-projects/ucu-school-of-medicine/.

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Contributions to the Uganda Christian University School of Medicine can be made on line at https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/ or through Mark Bartels, UCU Partners USA executive director, at Uganda Christian University Partners, P.O. Box 114, Sewickley, PA 15143 USA; 214-343-6422; mtbartels@gmail.com. Contributions in Uganda can be channeled to the development@ucu.ac.ug or through mobile money on 0772 770 852.

 

 

“I was sick and you visited me…truly I tell you whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” – Matthew 25:36-40

UCU Launches School of Medicine with foresight, planning, prayer

UCU School of Medicine, , , , ,


By Patty Huston-Holm

“I was sick and you visited me…truly I tell you whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” – Matthew 25:36-40
“I was sick and you visited me…truly I tell you whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” – Matthew 25:36-40

This, according to Dr. Ned Kanyesigye, sums up not only the reason that Uganda Christian University (UCU) started a medical school, but also what makes UCU unique in doing it.

That Uganda needs more doctors is without question. The World Health Organization reports 1 doctor per 13,000 Ugandans compared to the 1 per 400 citizens in the United States. To churn out these doctors, Uganda needs more medical schools.  What gives UCU an edge in producing medical practitioners is not only institutional oversight for knowledge and skill, but also the moral and ethical ties to Christianity.

“We know the need,” said Dr. Ned, Dean of the UCU School of Medicine (SoM). “But we’re about quality and not quantity. Our country’s infant mortality rate is high and our life expectancy is low.”

The first 60 students – 50 in medicine and 10 in dentistry and more than half female – started classes in the UCU School of Medicine in early September of 2018 with hopes to graduate in 2022. The selection process was painstaking as five credentialed professionals wove through 500 applicants with impeccable high school transcripts. That number was reduced to 150 who were scrutinized for reading habits, writing and overall communication ability, science expertise, faith, and knowledge of current affairs.

Criteria without wealth consideration
“Whether they had money was low on the criteria,” said Edward Kanyesigye, who is known as Dr. Ned. “I was poor and overcame it.  But clearly they must pay fees or be forced to drop out. ”

The first class of 60 includes bright, energetic young people from all parts of Uganda with a few from African countries of Eritrea, Nigeria, South Sudan, Kenya and Tanzania. They study and live within a hospital complex in Mengo, a hillside community 1.5 miles from the heart of Uganda’s capital city of Kampala and near an archway leading to the King of Buganda palace. They learn from lecturers and books and through practicums at the Mengo hospital.

“We got them exposed to cadavers right away,” Dr. Ned commented. “We prepared them in advance, and all were engaged.”

“Who got the idea for a medical school?” Dr. Ned pondered the question out loud.  In the midst of the planning and a year before the opening, he sat behind his office desk in the UCU Mukono campus Academic Building. “I can’t say it was me. There was collective thought. The Province of the Church of Uganda was talking about it for years. Based on successful health-related programs here at UCU, it was a natural progression.”

In July of 2014, a team of UCU faculty and other Province of Church of Uganda stakeholders (including Mengo Hospital management) met to discuss medical service gaps in Uganda. Seated around a table at Silver Springs Hotel near Kampala, around 30 people looked at data verifying the need beyond Uganda’s already existing 10 medical schools, discussed what a quality health professionals training might look like and examined possible facility and personnel requirements.

Instrumental to the startup was Dr. Miriam Gesa Mutabazi, a senior medical doctor (obstetrician gynecologist by training) and now executive director of the Save the Mothers program at UCU. She assisted with the new school on a consultancy basis to coordinate the day-to-day process of “growing the medical school project.” She was influential in putting together the curriculum and convening meetings of the medical school’s working group on the project.

Adding dentistry and medicine was a natural outgrowth of UCU health-related programs that evolved in the institution’s 21-year history.  In the months before the UCU School of Medicine official launch on September 14, 2018, the UCU Department of Health Sciences became the School of Medicine, folding in the already existing programs of nursing, public health, and Save the Mothers health administration with the new medicine and dentistry tracks.

“Nobody said ‘medical school’ right away,” Dr. Ned. “But most of us, including the Vice Chancellor (Rev. Canon Dr. John Senyonyi), knew that was why we were there at that meeting four years ago.  In the end, it was unanimous.”

Dr. Ned, center, with some of the first students for the new medical school
Dr. Ned, center, with some of the first students for the new medical school

UCU-Mengo Hospital collaborative
The Mengo Hospital and UCU collaboration was a given with UCU’s quality standing among East African universities, UCU’s nearby Kampala campus and Mengo’s reputation as Uganda’s oldest hospital and its modernization in the 121 years since its inception. In addition to acknowledging the need, both partners already had shared values of ethics, holistic practices, compassion and “witness of Jesus Christ.” A medical school supports the UCU strategic plan to increase science programs and its design to enhance evidenced-based practice and research. The programing also aligns with the Uganda’s goal to expand science-related careers.

As with any new project, there were bumps in the road, Dr. Ned recalled. The start date was later than the original plan due to the approval process of the National Council of Higher Education. Under God’s plan that “in all things God works for the good of those of love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28),” however, Dr. Ned pointed out that the delay translated into a higher quality program. The added time allowed more study about staffing, facilities, curriculum, student applications, tuition, governance and overall design.

Data-driven initiative
Data was a main driver.  More than half of Uganda’s citizens have no access to public health facilities, and 62% of health care posts are unfilled. Women and their babies are dying during the birth process. Respiratory and blood pressure issues are increasing alongside HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis, malaria and diabetes.

In addition to foundational programs required of all UCU students and renovated space, the start of the program includes:

  • Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry curriculum guided by full-time lecturers and part-time teachers;
  • Old Testament Bible Study;
  • Clinical specialists (pediatrics, medicine, surgery, gynecology); and
  • Hands-on skill training to compliment video, textbook and lecture content.

Subsequent years could enable allowing some students to opt out of courses based on their high qualifications, including experience; conducting internships and practicums at various locations; and attaining degrees beyond the initial two (medicine, dentistry) to those in pharmacy, biomedical laboratory science and nursing science.

“We continue to be besieged by calls and emails from potential students wanting in,” Dr. Ned said. “Medicine is a highly competitive field. We want applicants who are ready to apply social responsibility, empathy, integrity, individual and team skills and problem solving and to engage in lifelong learning.”

Among outcomes required for the UCU School of Medicine graduates is wellness. They need to practice and teach disease prevention and cure and describe and prescribe for illnesses and injuries.

Need for student sponsorship
That the first class of UCU School of Medicine is up to the tasks is without question. The biggest hurdle is money for staffing, equipment and students.  Tuition is $4,100 a year (includes room and board) for each of the five years. Sponsors are needed. In addition to full support:

  • Every gift of $150 will provide library materials for one student.
  • 25 donors giving $50/month will buy the physiology simulator.
  • $500 scholarships will help offset the costs for students since most Ugandans live on $2 per day.
  • 4 donors giving $2,500 will help the School obtain the anatomy software needed this year.

“While we spent time in both prayer and study for this to happen, clearly we need support,” the dean said.

For Dr. Ned, this new venture is just one of many in his career that has taken him throughout Uganda and in various medical-related leader and teacher positions that include practicum related to patient care, tobacco control and the fight against HIV/AIDS, among others. He is finding the possibilities exciting not because of any personal legacy but because of ability impact positive change.

“We are in the business of mankind so wherever the need is, we hope we can help meet it,” he said.

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More information about the Uganda Christian University School of Medicine can be obtained at https://www.ugandapartners.org/priority-projects or http://ucu.ac.ug/component/k2/item/25-ucu-to-launch-her-medical-school.

Support from the United States can be addressed to Mark Bartels, executive director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/ To support the UCU School of Medicine from Uganda, send mobile money on 0772 770852 (Uganda Christian University) or email development@ucu.ac.ug.

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Patty Huston-Holm of Ohio in the USA is a visiting UCU faculty member, working on various writing projects and serving as the volunteer communications director with the UCU Partners NGO that is based in Pennsylvania, United States.