Academics
KHI set for high quality service
Kigali Health Institute (KHI) is one of the government institutions of higher learning mandated to train Rwandan health professionals. As a response to the government's call to revolutionalise the service sector, KHI has embarked on various strategies that will see service delivery taken to another level. The graduates of the institute are a living testimony to their efforts to transform the health sector says Dr. Desire NDUSHABANDI, the Rector of the institute.
Below are the excerpts.
Breakthrough
The shortage of some health workers that Rwanda has faced in the last decade or so is largely traced to the 1994 genocide against Tutsi. Many health professionals were killed while others fled the country to save their lives. Consequently, post genocide era has had a critical doctor/patient ratio. The sector considerably depended on volunteer organizations. It was against this background that government sought to transform the health sector through training leading to the birth of KHI.
The post genocide government, through the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Ministry of Education did whatever it took to reverse the situation. A major breakthrough was made when KHI started on June 5, 1996. The status of the institute was later ratified by an Act of Parliament in 2002, paving way for it to become semi-autonomous with the two ministries as key stakeholders.
KHI has its vision and mission statements. Its Vision is to be a centre of excellence in training and development of health professionals in the region whereas its mission is to train and improve the capacity of health workers in the country. In order to realize the above vision and mission, KHI has put special emphasis on the goals identified in its strategic plan 2007 - 2012.
The institute attaches the following values as part and parcel of its corporate integrity and credibility when dealing with the public, collaborators, partners and stakeholders. They include healthy lifestyle, equity and respect, creativity and research, professionalism, accountability, transparency, good governance, quality assurance and standardization.
Evolution
The institute started with three departments of Nursing Sciences, Anaesthesia and Physiotherapy. The nursing department was included because in any health delivery system, nurses are paramount. The nurses were to treat those with injuries, traumas and other minor illnesses.
As time went on, other priorities emerged and more departments were established. They included departments of Medical Imaging Sciences, Environmental Health Sciences, Psychiatry, Midwifery, Medical Laboratory sciences, ophthalmology clinical officers and dentistry.
For the purposes of good management, the departments were reorganized into three faculties. namely Faculty of Nursing Sciences with three departments of General Nursing, Psychiatry/Mental Health and Midwifery. Faculty of Community Health Development has Department of environmental Health Sciences and a Certificate in Professional Counseling. Faculty of Allied Health Sciences houses the departments of Ophthalmology, Dentistry, Physiotherapy, Anaesthesia, Biomedical Laboratory Sciences and Medical Imaging Sciences.
Levels of certificates the institute offers
The institute offers Bachelors degrees, advanced diploma and has started one postgraduate Masters Degree in Critical Care and Trauma Nursing. The institute awards advanced diploma in all disciplines and postgraduate certificate in counseling. However the institute also has put in place programmes for mature entrants who want to upgrade from one level to another. This was not the case before (Bridging Programme).
The institute receives students as allocated by Rwanda National Examination Council, though it admits private students. But the recruits must have acquired good grades in sciences including Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics.
The institute has grown since its inception and has of now 1427 students for the specialized programmes. KHI accepts international students and already it has received some from Burundi , Uganda , Swaziland , Malawi and Sudan .
Achievements the institute has made
The institute has had a good number of achievements in its 14 years of existence.
The institute has had several graduations producing graduates to the tune of 2,300. The administration is also proud to have developed a post graduate professional certificate in counseling. The institute collaborates with the Regional Aids Training Network (RATN) which fights the pandemic through creating capacities in different institutions. KHI also collaborates with similar organizations in Zimbabwe and another one in Kenya : Kenya Association of Professional Counselors.
The institute has been able to train district health teams across the country in health management and administration and has done this through workshops and seminars.
The institute being highly scientific, it also trains its students in languages like French and English. Focus is mainly on enriching the first years with the English language.
On infrastructure development, the institute has beefed up its medical library with textbooks, medical journals and installed internet facilities. The institute has been connected to international medical journals through World Health Organization, University of Western Ontario . The institute subscribes to the journals relevant to programmes offered.
With support of donors which contributed to the development of dental clinic/dental laboratory, trainees have been able to do practice using dummies hence getting skills before going to deal with patients. The institute established physiotherapy clinic, Medical laboratory that offer services to public and training facilities to the students, maternal and child health services and a community eye care center will soon be operational.
Challenges
The institute is dependent on the budget of government and cannot adequately remunerate its staff. Outsourcing academic staff outside Rwanda is also very expensive.
Infrastructure is needed especially accommodation for students, lecture rooms, recreational facilities, library not adequately equipped to capacity and the human resource is not adequate. Most disciplines require sophisticated equipments which are so expensive and as such the institute has only a few. Most hospitals are not adequately equipped and this presents challenges to our students on practice.
However the government continues to support the institution to overcome the challenges. The institute also has approached donors and other partners with the calls to support the acquisition of equipment, books and ICT facilities.
Future plans
With the good political will from the government, the institute intends to merge with other Health training units to create one university: Rwanda University of Medicine and Health Sciences (RUMHS). Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Pharmacy (National University of Rwanda , School of Public Health and Department of Clinical Psychology are the others to join the institute). Through the merger, the dental therapy programme will upgrade to a full dental school. Bachelors degree in Human Nutrition, Advance Diploma in Orthopedic Technology and Ordinary degree in Clinical Community Health Medicine which have been developed by the institute will be offered through the premier university.
Compensation of dwellers on KHI`s land for expansion will soon be completed.
