Mount Kenya University has been approved to start training medical doctors. In a statement issued yesterday, the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board said it has inspected the institution and is satisfied that it has the requisite infrastructure and facilities to offer the training.

 The institution recently handed over a multi-million anatomy laboratory-cum mortuary, constructed at Thika Level Five Hospital, to the Kiambu government. The Project was a public-private partnership between the university, Thika Level five Hospital and Kiambu county. The modern anatomy laboratory opens opportunities to train medical doctors as it serves the community in Thika and its environs.

 The board said Mount Kenya University will admit its first batch of 50 students by September.

It will offer Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree in September.

 “The board having inspected the institution is satisfied that the university has put in place the requisite infrastructure facilities and relevant faculty to offer this course,” the statement issued by the board chairman George Magoha reads.

 The accreditation makes Mt Kenya the seventh institution in the country to train medical doctors. Others institutions are University of Nairobi, Moi, Maseno, Kenyatta and Egerton Universities. Kenya Methodist University and Uzima University also train medical doctors. Kenya currently has about 8,700 medical doctors and 1,047 dentists.