The Kenya Medical Training College will increase admission of students in its 50 learning institutions, board chairman Prof Philip Kaloki has said.
Mr Kaloki said expansion in the 50 medical institutions will enable KMTC admit 14,000 students annually up from the current 7,000.
He said the increase in admission aims at bridging the current shortfall of 50,000 nurses countrywide in public hospitals.
He said they are working on a strategy that will enable the government to achieve the high demands for training vacancies.
He said an additional Sh500million has been allocated to spearhead the expansion programs.
Mr Kaloki said they are partnering with the county governments to build more institutions that will see more admission as envisaged in Vision 2030.
Speaking to the press in Kisumu on Wednesday, he said the government has constructed more medical training institutions that will accommodate more students.
“We are going to recruit more lecturers to help in tutoring the students who will be absorbed into the KMTC colleges,” Kaloki said.
He said various colleges have been constructed so far through partnership which will ensure surplus of health practitioners to hospitals.
“The government in partnership with Kisumu county will soon commission a medical laboratory at Kombewa sub county hospital for learning purposes,” Kaloki said.
He said the national government is focusing on quality training of students to meet the global market requirements.
“We are also working on policies to establish centres of excellence and various blood centres in the country,” he said.
He added that they are working with various agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations to establish blood safety equipment in training institutions.
Mr Kaloki appealed to the government to allocate enough funds to colleges to enable them offer quality medical training.
He urged the national and county government to give more priority to human resource in medical institutions to improve quality of education.
The chairman also challenged county governors to allocate lands and funds to build more institutions.
He said there is urgent need of modern laboratories, lecture halls and hostels among others.