Stakeholders optimistic over Sh7billion health professionals’ education project

Dar es Salaam. Health sector stakeholders on Thursday February 21 expressed optimism over the newly launched project—the Transforming Health Professionals Education in Tanzania (THET).

THET, a Sh7billion project that seeks to transform health education training in Tanzania, is a consortium of three medical universities, including the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (Muhas), Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences (Cuhas) and Kilimanjaro Christian, Medical Centre College (KCMCollege).

Speaking during the project’s stakeholder meeting held in Dar es Salaam on Thursday February 21, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Leonard Akwilapo, said THET has come at the time when the government is working to streamline healthcare delivery services.

Dr Akwilapo further commended the universities for coming up with the initiative to boast health professionals’ education. "The government encourages health professionals to deliver quality healthcare services to the members of the public living in both rural and urban areas," emphasized Dr Akwilapo.

The PS called upon the stakeholders to closely work with THET to ensure that the project becomes successful and useful to the country.

Stakeholders believe the project’s aim to come up with a competency-based curriculum to boost health professionals education in the country, would enable the medical universities to generate competent healthcare providers who are ready to work in both urban and rural areas effectively.

The meeting involved representatives from the Medical Council of Tanganyika (MCT), the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) as well as several other medical colleges from across the country. The THET team, involves Muhas, Cuhas, and KCMCollege in collaboration with the California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Duke University.

For his part, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) for Cuhas, Prof Stephen Mshana, the country needed such a curriculum to ensure that patients were served by high quality graduates.

"For years we didn't have a common training curriculum for health professionals’ education in Tanzania, as a consequence,  the graduates from medical universities lacked adequate competencies to deliver quality healthcare services to patients, " said Prof Mshana,

During the meeting concerns were raised over the tendency of some health professionals who reject job posts to work in rural areas on the grounds that the areas are underdeveloped.

But, according to the Deputy Provost, Academics Affairs of the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College (KCMUCos), Prof Alfred Mteta, the coming common curriculum is expected to equip medical students with appropriate health profession ethics to work in both rural and urban areas effectively.