GE targets to train 10,000 East African doctors with modern facility
US multinational General Electric has unveiled a $13million healthcare skills and training facility in Kenya that targets to train 10,000 health professionals in Kenya and East Africa by 2020 as it deepens its foray in Kenya. The center, which is expected to bridge the biting skills gap in the medical sector, will initially offer clinical applications and technical courses for healthcare professionals in Kenya and East Africa before rolling out leadership, biomedical and clinical education courses in the long term.
It is enlisting partnership with the Kenyan government through the Ministry of Health. The facility complements the Ministry’s $420 million radiology modernization initiative being executed by GE which indicates improved efficiency, reduced patient waiting time and increased throughput. Further, assessment of the impact of Government’s radiology modernization initiative has shown positive early trends with increased system efficiency, reduced patient waiting times and increased throughput.
The facility is a breath of fresh air to the country’s public health system which is blighted by ill equipped medical personnel, lack of essential medicines and requisite equipment and a shortage of doctors. While rich Kenyans seek medical attention in the expensive private hospitals or out of the country, the poor are left to make do with the dilapidated public hospitals. It is this situation that the GE seeks to correct.
The country has a poorly equipped public health system weighed down by a shortage of doctors, essential medicines and proper medical equipment. “Demand for quality healthcare is increasing. The GE Training Centre will play a critical role in supporting the capacity development of biomedical engineers, radiologists and technicians, helping to reduce the skills gap, improve job prospects and build a solid national healthcare system,” said Dr. Cleopa Mailu, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Health during the inauguration event.
According to an earlier assessment the radiology modernization initiative had delivered impressive gains. Digital examination volumes had increased from 15,000 monthly to more than 28,000 across the first 44 hospitals with the switch in scanning technology reducing scanning time by 14 per cent.
On the other hand Screening for breast cancer, a leading cancer killer in Kenya, 90 per cent of level 5 hospitals have so far been installed with the latest digital mammography capability, enabling 30 per cent of these facilities to offer in-house mammography exams for the first-time
“The new centre will not only help to ensure that Kenya’s healthcare workforce receives critical training to optimize the full features and benefits of country’s newest healthcare equipment, in the future, it will support the development of a pipeline of future biomedical engineers, radiologists and technicians. This commitment to healthcare capacity building will help to reduce the country’s skills gap, improve job prospects and build a solid national healthcare system and private healthcare sector,” said Farid Fezoua, President & CEO, GE Healthcare Africa said.
“To date, radiology departments at 70 modernized hospitals are delivering services to patients in 42 of the 47 counties. Work is well underway in the remaining 28 hospitals. While data that assesses the long-term impact of the programme will take some time to be compiled and analysed, the early results are positive,” added Dr. Mailu.
