Varsity to set up heart and cancer centre

The Aga Khan University Hospital plans to set up a heart and cancer centre in Kenya by the end of the year. The centre, the first of its kind in the region, will provide medical treatment for heart ailments and cancers, the university’s president, Mr Firoz Rasul, announced on Wednesday.

This is only part of their expansion agenda, which Mr Rasul said, is expected to cost more than $700 million (Sh52.5 billion). Besides offering treatment, Mr Rasul said the centre would also train specialists in cardiac diseases and cancer. “This expansion will directly impact on the services we offer the communities we serve and contribute to the development of the East African region,” he said.

He was speaking during the sixth graduation ceremony of the university hospital, located in Parklands, Nairobi. Mr Rasul told the ceremony, which was presided over by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, that the project, will create 6,000 jobs for East Africans.

The university also plans to establish new campuses. However, Mr Rasul said that the expansion plan will only be possible if there will be a conducive environment for investment in the country.

Mr Musyoka expressed the government’s appreciation to the Aga Khan for the continued contribution to development of education and other sectors such as health in the country.

During the occasion, 82 graduands were awarded degrees and diplomas. Mr Musyoka said that the government attached great importance to education as evidenced by the large budgetary allocation over the years.

Take advantage

“We now have seven public universities, several constituent colleges and 18 private universities, including the Aga Khan,’’ he said.

The VP urged the private sector and religious organizations to take advantage of the available demand for higher education to either set up new institutions or expand existing ones. The chairman of the Aga Khan University Board of Trustees, Mr Saidullah Khan Dehlavi, attended the ceremony.