MUHAS school for cardiovascular sciences underway

BY DEVOTA MWACHANG`A

The Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) is set to establish a Centre for Excellence for Cardiovascular Sciences (CoECS) to be located at the Mloganzila Campus in synergy with the MUHAS Teaching Hospital which is currently under construction.

The CoECS is part of the East African Centres for Excellence in Skills Development and Tertiary Education in Biomedical Sciences Project that aims at contributing to development of relevant and highly skilled workforce in biomedical sciences to meet East African Community immediate labour market needs.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by MUHAS Vice Chancellor Prof Ephata Kaaya, the project will have two phases. Phase one will support creation of a network of Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in Nephrology and Urology in Kenya, Oncology in Uganda, Cardiovascular Sciences (CVS) in Tanzania and Biomedical Engineering and e-Health in Rwanda.

According to him, in Tanzania, Phase one will involve the establishment of the Centre’s support facilities.

“That will include administrative block, seminar and teaching rooms, e-learning centre, educational resource centre (Library), a conference centre, curriculum design and development, training of faculty in areas of selected CVS specialties, agreement with world class institutions for collaboration and development of architectural drawings for the Cardiovascular Teaching Hospital,” he said.

However, he said Burundi will join in Phase two in the area of Nutrition. Phase two will involve establishment of a Cardiac Teaching Hospital.

He detailed that the centre will perform the core functions of the University which is research, training and service provision and will train in all aspects of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of CVS.

The centre is funded by the government of Tanzania and a soft loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB).

“Phase one of the project will cost 10.2million USD,” explained Prof Kaaya.

He added that as for the process, appraisal missions and negotiations between the African Development Bank (AfDB), the ministry of Education and Vocational Training and the ministry of Finance have been completed and the Board of AfDB approved the project on October, 3 this year.

Moreover, he said the project will officially commence after signing the loan agreement between the ministry of Finance and AfDB.

Meanwhile, MUHAS is addressing the bank’s pre-requisites necessary for the first installment to be effected.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN