Middle-level colleges providing medical courses have requested the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) to revisit the cluster system for health programs.
Speaking to the media on Saturday, March 15, the stakeholders, belonging to the Association of Medical Training Institutes of Kenya (AMTIK), urged the placement service to think about reducing the existing cluster points for medical courses to enable more students to join the programs.
While recognizing the importance of medical courses, the stakeholders, guided by their leader, Dennis Oketch, pointed out that middle-level colleges provided courses that met both local and international demands.
As stated by the Association members, just 25 percent of students who receive the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) achieve the necessary grades for medical courses, thereby hampering growth in the industry.
“One of the reasons why many parents do not enroll their children immediately after high school is because the learners receive low grades, such as D, D+, and D-, and these students do not have an alternative path,” mentioned one of the stakeholders.
“There are numerous medical colleges in Kenya; we wish to unite and refine the sector. We have several issues we would like to tackle, especially in colleges,” she continued.
At the press conference, the stakeholders encouraged Form Four graduates to explore courses in medical engineering and clinical medicine, as the need for experts in these areas keeps growing.
They further emphasized health records, public health, and perioperative theatre studies among the promising courses whose global demand has risen.
This proposal comes a few weeks after KUCCPS launched its portal for the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) course applications for the March 2025 intake.
KUCCPS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Agnes Wahome, who addressed the audience on February 25, urged qualified Form Four graduates who took the KCSE examination from the year 2000 to 2024 to apply for positions in the medical sector.
She pointed out that KMTC had expanded the number of campuses available for popular medical courses such as Diploma in Kenya Registered Community Health Nursing (49 campuses), Diploma in Clinical Medicine and Surgery (30 campuses), Certificate in Community Health Assistant (47 campuses), and Certificate in Health Records and Information Technology (36 campuses).