The Mombasa County Government has unveiled a new initiative to sponsor medical training for 12 students with guaranteed employment upon graduation in what is a historic first in the county.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, July 20, Governor Abdulswamad Sheriff Nassir announced that his government had, for the first time, come up with a framework to transform the medical field in the county.
"For the first time, the County of Mombasa will have a mechanism to enable its students to study medicine. Before, they had to study medicine outside the country," the governor revealed.
Under the new initiative, two students, a male and a female, would be selected from each of the six constituencies in Mombasa and enrolled in a medical training program in partnership with the Technical University of Mombasa (TUM).
Unlike in the past when aspiring doctors would undertake their training at medical facilities outside the county, the selected students will then undertake their practical training at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital, thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the county and the university.
The programme will primarily target students from disadvantaged families in Mombasa, including orphans and those whose parents cannot necessarily afford the fees required to study a demanding course such as medicine.
The selection process, according to the governor, would be overseen by a special committee which would identify candidates based on merit and socio-economic need.
“If they are sharp enough and from underprivileged backgrounds, I will ask for a framework to guarantee the absorption of all 12 individuals into the county health system once they complete their training,” the governor added.
The idea behind the initiative was to level the playing field for youth from less-privileged households who previously lacked the opportunity to pursue careers in medicine.
While Mombasa has been home to reputable medical institutions like the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) and the Technical University of Mombasa (TUM), these schools have traditionally offered mid-level healthcare courses that lead to careers in fields like nursing and clinical medicine, rather than full medical degrees for doctors
In the event the students studied health-related courses locally, they had to leave the county to do their practical training, with Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret being the preferred training grounds.
This system left many bright yet underprivileged students from Mombasa behind, since relocating for studies has statistically proven to be very expensive.
Notably, this was the second major initiative announced by the Mombasa governor, coming just days after the proposal of a 'Mombasa Resident’s Card', which will act as an identity card to prove that one is a resident of the county.
