Jinja, Hoima nursing schools to benefit from sh19b project

Hoima and Jinja schools of nursing and midwifery, plus Fort Portal College of Health Science have been earmarked to benefit from a euros 4.7 million (about shillings 19 billion project), a project aimed at improving education for health.

The five-year project funded by the Belgian government in partnership with the Ugandan government under the health ministry is going to be implemented through Enabel in Uganda. Enabel is the development agency of Belgium's federal government.

 The We Train for Health project focuses on improving education and training in health training institutions and it targets nurses, midwives and clinical officers.

According to Hanna Hanifah Nayoga, the We Train for Health project manager, the shillings 19 billion will be divided among the three training institutions.

She said the share of Hoima schools of nursing and midwifery with 1,060 students is going to be given euros 1.3 million with a focus on improvement of infrastructure such as dormitory, classrooms, skills labs and training teachers and management.

Nayoga added the project was signed between the Governments of Uganda and Belgium last year and that the actual implementation will start soon since they are currently carrying out infrastructure validation and prioritisation meetings.

She made the revelation as Belgian ambassador to Uganda Chantry Hugues visited Hoima School of Nursing and Midwifery and made an evaluation of projects funded by the Belgian government in Bunyoro region.

Mark Karanzi, the principal of Hoima School of Nursing and Midwifery, commended the government for the project saying that the institution is overwhelmed by several challenges, including the lack of staff quarters, students' dormitory, skills lab and library.

Hugues said the Belgian government is committed to working with the Ugandan government to promote education but expressed concern that the sector has low funding despite being one of the key sectors as far as development is concerned.

He warned the managers of education institutions against misalignment of the available resources to ensure that the funds serve their intended purpose. He decried the endemic misuse of the funding for personal gain.