Kenya to host dental congress amid accreditation scrutiny

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba. [File,Standard]

Kenya will host the World Dental Federation Regional Dental Congress in Mombasa from October 21 to 23 as the country's two public dental schools undergo scrutiny over whether their degree programmes meet accreditation requirements.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba directed the Commission for University Education (CUE) on June 30 to audit the Bachelor of Dental Surgery programmes at the University of Nairobi and Moi University within 14 days.

The directive followed a legal challenge from the Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK), which argues the programmes lack formal re-accreditation since both universities received their charters in 2013.

COFEK Secretary General Stephen Mutoro noted the schools have produced no demonstrable evidence of accreditation under the amended law governing university programmes since 2017.

Kenya Dental Association (KDA) President Kahura Mundia has defended both institutions, citing joint Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) and CUE inspection results he says found the University of Nairobi's dental school 75.75 per cent compliant with East African Community training standards, and Moi University's 71 per cent compliant.

"Strong institutions are not those that avoid evaluation, but those that embrace it as an opportunity to improve," noted Mundia.

COFEK has accused the KDA of "legally inverted" reasoning, pointing to the association's separate petition against a different institution's oral health programme.

A High Court ruling in May affirmed that programme's accreditation.

The announcement comes as Kenya's dental education system faces renewed scrutiny over the accreditation status of its two public dental schools, even as Mundia hails the congress as proof of the country's standing as a regional training hub.

The Federation, known by its French acronym FDI, is organising the three-day congress with the KDA.

Mundia projected more than 1,500 delegates from Kenya and abroad and described the congress theme as "Advancing Dentistry in Africa," a description Standard Media Group could not independently confirm with FDI.

The congress marks the event's return to Africa nine years after its 2017 debut in Marrakesh, Morocco, which drew more than 800 delegates.

FDI represents more than one million dentists worldwide through national associations in over 130 countries.