Health team meets to review sector's curriculum needs

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe during the opening of Coast General and Referral Hospital cancer treatment centre in Mombasa. [Omondi Onyango,Standard]

Senior ministry officials, trainers and health stakeholders are converging in Mombasa tomorrow to review the training needs of health professionals.  

The two-day meeting, which ends on Wednesday will be graced by Principal Secretary Susan Mochache and will seek curriculum harmonisation in the wake of dynamic healthcare needs.

In a session chaired by Chief Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangangi, the team will discuss the role of regional economic agencies in health training professional development, drawing from the East African Community’s experiences.  

Head of the conference secretariat Daniel Yumbya said the meeting, themed “Repositioning today’s Health Workforce for the Future” will take stock of opportunities and challenges in the sector, and climax in recommendations and position papers.   

According to a brief on the conference released yesterday, there will be a session on service delivery and health workforce from a devolved governments’ perspective, where Council of Governors (CoG) Health committee chairman Anyang' Nyong'o will speak. CoG chairman Martin Wambora will attend.

Topics on the table include Africa’s opportunities to advance and accelerate cutting edge health research, improving leadership and governance of the sector’s human resources, and tracking health sector priority-setting five years after devolution.

The health sector was devolved under the 2010 Constitution, where the 47 county governments are expected to design innovative methods to meet these unique needs.

Other topics to be discussed tomorrow are universal health coverage in emerging economies and developing the scope of practice for medical practitioners, dentists and oral health.

“We look forward to a productive engagement, said Yumbya who is the CEO of the Kenyan Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council.   

The talks are expected to root for leveraging of technology to improve access to lifelong learning amongst health professionals, besides assessing the role of medical laboratory officers in the sustenance of quality.

The contribution of the nursing practice in the delivery of UHC will also feature.