Officials from the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) and the Commission for University Education (CUE) visited the Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) to inspect the newly launched school of Medicine and Health Sciences on Wednesday of April 1, 2026.
Addressing the top management at the School of Medicine boardroom, chief executive officer and registrar of KMPDC Dr David Kariuki said the council and CUE conduct the regular exercise to verify if the institution comply with both national and regional standards to produce competent healthcare professionals.
The main aim is to ensure the standardization, quality and relevance of medical and dental training in Kenya. The inspection covers infrastructure, equipment, human resource, policies, statutes, memorandum of understandings among others.
The KMPDC and CUE officials said that TUM had met the required standards.
Dr Kariuki used the opportunity to call on the young people in the coast region and Kenya at large to take advantage of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, arguing that the opportunities are enormous.
“The East African Community (EAC) has accepted free movement of medical practitioners in the region. There are no barriers any more. You can practice in any country in the East African region,” Dr Kariuki said.
Dr Elizabeth Onyango from the Commission for University Education (CUE) said the school of Medicine at TUM came at the right time when the country is focusing more on blue economy.
She urged TUM to take advantage of its proximity to the great Indian Ocean and focus on transport medicine as its niche. Dr Onyango said the inspection is more of a support visit to ensure the newly established school of Medicine is on the right track. She assured the TUM fraternity that CUE will continue to support TUM to achieve its mission and vision.
In his speech Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Academic, Research and Extension Prof Peter Gichangi commended KMPDC and CUE for giving TUM an opportunity to train medical doctors.
“We really appreciate for this golden opportunity. In the first cohort we enrolled a total of 60 students. We have already forwarded their names to KMPDC for indexing,” Prof Gichangi explained.
The DVC disclosed that TUM has a working memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mombasa County government to facilitate practicals at Coast general teaching and referral hospital and other level 5 hospitals in Mombasa.
He further added that TUM signed an MoU with University of Ghent in Belgium, as a result many lecturers in Ghent University teach at the TUM’s school of Medicine and Health Sciences.
The sentiments were echoed by the Dean School of Medicine and Health Sciences Prof Emily Rogena, who said the School has partnered with Aga Khan University to enable the students to access more resources.
At the same time, Prof Rogena said the school is ahead of the competency-based education (CBE) curriculum, since it has already implemented the 70% practical’s and 30% theory learning approach.
“Our examinations are in three categories, written exam with short and long answers, clinical examinations with the format of objective structured clinical examinations and oral examinations (viva voce),” Prof Rogena concluded.
