Unima to boost health services

The University of Malawi (Unima) says it will advance the health sector in the country by constructing a hospital for College of Medicine (CoM) and Kamuzu College of Nursing (KCN) students.

Unima vice-chancellor Professor John Saka said this yesterday at the 2014-2015 third congregation held at Chancellor College in Zomba.

He said one way of advancing the health sector is to ensure that the country has a special hospital for students from these two colleges. Students from the two colleges have been relying on the country’s major hospitals for practicals.

Said Saka: “For the university to remain competitive, government should urgently provide sustainable funding for human capital development, ICT infrastructure and the construction of the hospital.”

He said Unima would also like to see 75 percent of its teaching staff become PhD holders . Currently, most of the academic staff hold master’s degrees.

Saka added that Unima has rolled out two postgraduate programmes which include an MA in Public Administration.

In his remarks, Minister of Education, Science and Technology Emmanuel Fabiano commended the university for being in line with government’s education strategies and also hailed Unima for holding three consecutive congregations within three months.

Said Fabiano: “Government is committed to supporting the education sector.  The President launched the community colleges initiative at Ngala in Karonga District last   week and that demonstrates our commitment to the improvement of education standards in the country.”

The congregation included 458 graduates, 168 females and 290 males from Chancellor College, The Polytechnic and College of Medicine (CoM).

Unima is the oldest of the country’s four functional public universities. n