The Ministry of Health partnered with GE Healthcare to train over 260 healthcare technologists from all Level 4, 5 and 6 hospitals from across the country.
The 12 weeks training that is part of the Managed Equipment Services (MES) training curriculum education programme shared between onsite training sessions and classroom training sessions in Nairobi county.
Topics covered during the training included Clinical Applications Training on X-ray, Mammography, Dental X-ray, Ultrasound, C-Arm, and Environmental, Health and Safety Training.
According to GE Healthcare East Africa Managing Director Andrew Waititu medical staff needs to be trained continuously as technologies are developing rapidly hence new set skills are essential.
“The refresher training is helping to sustain the quality of healthcare services in the public hospitals across the country and ensuring the healthcare professionals’ skills remain up to date as they support the country’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agenda,” said Waititu.
“The purpose of the MES project is to fast track the government’s objective of attaining equitable, affordable and quality healthcare services of the highest standards for the Kenyan citizens in public hospitals across the country, to ensure that all citizens regardless of location have access to uninterrupted, quality, specialized healthcare services,” added Managed Equipment Services Implementation Committee Chair Morang’a Morekwa.
Morekwa noted that the training will ensure proper running and maintenance of the specialized, modern, state-of-the-art medical equipment installed at the county and sub-county health facilities.
The ministry of health launched a Ksh1.3 billion investment with GE Healthcare Skills and Training Institute (HSTI) in 2016. The project was aimed at promoting the training of Healthcare technologists and other healthcare workers.
The initiative is driving capacity and capability building as a priority for sustainable development of the healthcare sector in Kenya and its Big4 agenda on Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Currently, over 1600 professionals from across the country have been trained.
