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THE MEDICAL FACULTY OF MAKERERE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
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teaching hospitals of recent design elsewhere. The major part of the cost, which is considered very reasonable, was borne by the British Government. Uganda is justly proud of the new Mulago Hospital. I am grateful to the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, Uganda Government, for permission to publish this article.
THE MEDICAL FACULTY OF MAKERERE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
J. A. TULLOCH M.C., M.D. Edin., M.R.C.P., F.R.C.P.E. PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND FORMER DEAN OF THE MEDICAL FACULTY
THE medical faculty of Makerere University College, one of the constituent colleges of the newly created University of East Africa, had its beginning in the Uganda Medical School started by the Uganda Medical Service in 1924. Four students were admitted to the school in its first year. Four years later three qualified and entered the Government medical service as senior medical assistants. From the beginning, medical teaching was associated with the Mulago Hospital. Growth and development of clinical teaching and of the hospital service have gone hand in hand. This close association of teaching and hospital work was necessary and inevitable because the teaching staff consisted of the Government medical officers and later specialists posted to the Mulago Hospital. Only in 1950 were the first full-time clinical teaching appointments made by the college. At first only medical assistants were trained, but within few a years a full medical course was introduced. In 1931 an amendment to the Medical Registration Ordinance of Uganda allowed the graduates to be licensed as medical practitioners. The first students from outside Uganda were admitted in 1930 and in 1936 a Joint East African Examining Board was formed to consider the course of training and the qualification to be awarded. The certificate of proficiency in medicine, surgery, and obstetrics and gynaecology awarded jointly by this board and Makerere College was shortly superseded by the diploma in medicine Africa) awarded by the college. In 1951 the diploma was itself superseded by the licentiateship in medicine and surgery-L.M.s. (E.A.)-which next year will in turn be replaced by the M.B., CH.B. of the University of East Africa. The year 1957 was a landmark for medical training in East Africa ; for in that year the General Medical Council of Great Britain gave its recognition to the L.M.s. (E.A.) and backdated this recognition to 1951. After qualification, students spend a year as interns at a hospital recognised for the purpose by a committee of the medical faculty.
(East
STUDENTS AND CURRICULUM
Thanks to the improvement in secondary education throughout the three East African countries, students now enter the medical faculty direct from school: the two-year course run by Makerere College to bring students tc university entrance standards was discontinued in 1962. There is considerable competition for places in the medical school and many more apply than can be admitted. Foi a long time the school was small, but in the mid-1950s the number of admissions began to increase considerably. In 1962, 46 were accepted, and the number starting next yeai is expected to be 60. The laboratories, built only a few years ago, were planned around an annual intake oj 60 students.
Throughout the course, standards obtaining in the best British medical schools apply. External examiners from Britain take part in the professional examinations. It is quite exceptional for a student who enters the medical course not to qualify. In 1962, 27 out of 29 candidates passed their final examination at the first attempt and this year 16 of 18 were successful. The course is one of five years and it has followed the traditional pattern of two years’ preclinical work and three years’ clinical and paraclinical training. There has always been considerable emphasis on preventive medicine and on integration of the teaching of that subject with paediatrics and medicine. In the past year a new curriculum has been finalised: change is an integration of preclinical and clinical subjects. Anatomy and physiology will be taught for one year of four terms and thereafter throughout each clinical year by the staff of the anatomy and physiology departments in con. junction with the clinical teachers. Opportunity has also been taken to emphasise aspects of training that are of particular importance in the East African environment. A term of clinical clerking in rural health has been introduced and will be run at The main
the unit built and staffed with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. All aspects of work in a rural community, including obstetrics, will be covered. The faculty are aware of their opportunity of improving the methods and standards of medical training, and developments are under regular review by the curriculum committee.
Library facilities for students and staff are of a very high standard. The Albert Cook library has the best collection in East Africa and very few journals to which a member of staff may wish to refer are not available. TEACHING AND TEACHERS
Postgraduate instruction is becoming important as more and more local graduates enter the health services of their countries. The Uganda Government are aware of this and five years ago established the Post-Graduate Medical Training Council on which several Makerere professors sit. The dean of the faculty is chairman of the Advisory Committee on Training. The main form of training provided is in-service training of doctors at registrar level, but lecture courses are also held. A course for candidates for the primary F.R.C.S. began in July, and the examinations will be held at Kampala for the first time next February. The staff of the medical school consists of full-time teachers in all subjects, and in the clinical, subjects they are helped by the specialist staff of the Uganda Government who are attached to the Mulago Hospital. This arrangement is to the mutual benefit of school and hospital, for the Government have the aid of the Makerere full-time clinical staff in providing a curative service for the public, At present most Makerere full-time staff are recruited from Britain, but gradually local graduates are taking up an academic career. One of the great features of the medical school is the research opportunities. These are unparalleled anywhere in the world. The clinical research building opened last February provides laboratory facilities for the clinical departments and fills what was an important gap. Visitors to the medical school and Mulago Hospital are surprised by the size and quality of the buildings, by the training facilities, and by the calibre of students and graduates. These things do credit to the many members of the academic staff who are no longer at Makerere but who served the medical school, the college, and East Africa so faithfully and so well.
teaching hospitals of recent design elsewhere. The major part of the cost, which is considered very reasonable, was borne by the British Government. Uganda is justly proud of the new Mulago Hospital. I am grateful to the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, Uganda Government, for permission to publish this article.
THE MEDICAL FACULTY OF MAKERERE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
J. A. TULLOCH M.C., M.D. Edin., M.R.C.P., F.R.C.P.E. PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND FORMER DEAN OF THE MEDICAL FACULTY
THE medical faculty of Makerere University College, one of the constituent colleges of the newly created University of East Africa, had its beginning in the Uganda Medical School started by the Uganda Medical Service in 1924. Four students were admitted to the school in its first year. Four years later three qualified and entered the Government medical service as senior medical assistants. From the beginning, medical teaching was associated with the Mulago Hospital. Growth and development of clinical teaching and of the hospital service have gone hand in hand. This close association of teaching and hospital work was necessary and inevitable because the teaching staff consisted of the Government medical officers and later specialists posted to the Mulago Hospital. Only in 1950 were the first full-time clinical teaching appointments made by the college. At first only medical assistants were trained, but within few a years a full medical course was introduced. In 1931 an amendment to the Medical Registration Ordinance of Uganda allowed the graduates to be licensed as medical practitioners. The first students from outside Uganda were admitted in 1930 and in 1936 a Joint East African Examining Board was formed to consider the course of training and the qualification to be awarded. The certificate of proficiency in medicine, surgery, and obstetrics and gynaecology awarded jointly by this board and Makerere College was shortly superseded by the diploma in medicine Africa) awarded by the college. In 1951 the diploma was itself superseded by the licentiateship in medicine and surgery-L.M.s. (E.A.)-which next year will in turn be replaced by the M.B., CH.B. of the University of East Africa. The year 1957 was a landmark for medical training in East Africa ; for in that year the General Medical Council of Great Britain gave its recognition to the L.M.s. (E.A.) and backdated this recognition to 1951. After qualification, students spend a year as interns at a hospital recognised for the purpose by a committee of the medical faculty.
(East
STUDENTS AND CURRICULUM
Thanks to the improvement in secondary education throughout the three East African countries, students now enter the medical faculty direct from school: the two-year course run by Makerere College to bring students tc university entrance standards was discontinued in 1962. There is considerable competition for places in the medical school and many more apply than can be admitted. Foi a long time the school was small, but in the mid-1950s the number of admissions began to increase considerably. In 1962, 46 were accepted, and the number starting next yeai is expected to be 60. The laboratories, built only a few years ago, were planned around an annual intake oj 60 students.
Throughout the course, standards obtaining in the best British medical schools apply. External examiners from Britain take part in the professional examinations. It is quite exceptional for a student who enters the medical course not to qualify. In 1962, 27 out of 29 candidates passed their final examination at the first attempt and this year 16 of 18 were successful. The course is one of five years and it has followed the traditional pattern of two years’ preclinical work and three years’ clinical and paraclinical training. There has always been considerable emphasis on preventive medicine and on integration of the teaching of that subject with paediatrics and medicine. In the past year a new curriculum has been finalised: change is an integration of preclinical and clinical subjects. Anatomy and physiology will be taught for one year of four terms and thereafter throughout each clinical year by the staff of the anatomy and physiology departments in con. junction with the clinical teachers. Opportunity has also been taken to emphasise aspects of training that are of particular importance in the East African environment. A term of clinical clerking in rural health has been introduced and will be run at The main
the unit built and staffed with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. All aspects of work in a rural community, including obstetrics, will be covered. The faculty are aware of their opportunity of improving the methods and standards of medical training, and developments are under regular review by the curriculum committee.
Library facilities for students and staff are of a very high standard. The Albert Cook library has the best collection in East Africa and very few journals to which a member of staff may wish to refer are not available. TEACHING AND TEACHERS
Postgraduate instruction is becoming important as more and more local graduates enter the health services of their countries. The Uganda Government are aware of this and five years ago established the Post-Graduate Medical Training Council on which several Makerere professors sit. The dean of the faculty is chairman of the Advisory Committee on Training. The main form of training provided is in-service training of doctors at registrar level, but lecture courses are also held. A course for candidates for the primary F.R.C.S. began in July, and the examinations will be held at Kampala for the first time next February. The staff of the medical school consists of full-time teachers in all subjects, and in the clinical, subjects they are helped by the specialist staff of the Uganda Government who are attached to the Mulago Hospital. This arrangement is to the mutual benefit of school and hospital, for the Government have the aid of the Makerere full-time clinical staff in providing a curative service for the public, At present most Makerere full-time staff are recruited from Britain, but gradually local graduates are taking up an academic career. One of the great features of the medical school is the research opportunities. These are unparalleled anywhere in the world. The clinical research building opened last February provides laboratory facilities for the clinical departments and fills what was an important gap. Visitors to the medical school and Mulago Hospital are surprised by the size and quality of the buildings, by the training facilities, and by the calibre of students and graduates. These things do credit to the many members of the academic staff who are no longer at Makerere but who served the medical school, the college, and East Africa so faithfully and so well.