Medical graduates have been urged to become members of regulating bodies in their fields of practice so that they can be differentiated from quacks at work.
Speaking during a graduation ceremony at Nyahururu Medical Training College, Martha Njeri from the Directorate of Nursing, who represented Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni at the ceremony, warned the graduands against engaging in unprofessional conduct, saying they risked prosecution.
“Here in Nyahururu Medical Training College, you were under the college rules; you will be under the Kenyan law out there, and the law will take its course if you engage in unprofessional conduct. Ensure you join various professional bodies and renew your membership whenever needed,” Njeri said.
The Director of the Nyahururu Medical Training College, Prof. Peter Ngatia, urged the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) to consider privately managed medical colleges when placing secondary school graduates in medical training colleges.
Ngatia said this would hasten the training of enough community health promoters (CHPs) in the country.
He added that private medical colleges have adequate infrastructure and human resources to support the training.
“The colleges are endowed with infrastructure and human resources to support the government in training 10,000 CHPs, who are the backbone of preventive care,” Ngatia said.
He praised the government’s enactment of laws that will remove handicaps that encumbered health providers and their patients, saying this will ensure a functional health system.
By Antony Mwangi
