Cancer training ‘key to development

Aga Khan University has said its pioneer training for cancer specialists is a step in its achievement of global development goals.

The university was the first to train cancer specialists and has now launched a diploma in oncology nursing to be offered by Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret.

Firoz Rasul, the university’s president, said the institution, civil society, and the government were working together to help achieve sustainable development goals of 2030. “The university is working to be an educator of leaders, a source of problem-solving, research and a provider of outstanding healthcare,” said Mr Rasul.

He spoke during the university’s 13th convocation ceremony at the Aga Khan Pavilion.

Sixty graduates were awarded degrees in nursing, medicine and education. Most students were working in hospitals.

“We train them on quality first, respect for the patient and being responsive to their needs. We collaborate with other universities and hospitals and even do rotations for our students,” said Prof Robert Armstrong, the university’s East Africa dean of Medical College.

Higher Education Principal Secretary Collette Suda said the university had set aside 13.9 per cent of its funds for research, way above the legal requirement of at least two per cent.

Prof Suda said the institution was one of the 11 out of 70 institutions in the country that had complied with research funding rules. “A university that does not engage in research, has no business calling itself a university,” she said.