Health experts want President Uhuru Kenyatta to reject proposed amendments to the Universities Act.
The experts claim the proposed changes would compromise quality of education at the institutions of higher learning.
The medics say the changes, which seek to clip the wings of professional regulatory bodies in accrediting and approving courses at the universities, would open the floodgates for quacks to infiltrate the industry.
If the radical changes endorsed by Parliament in the Universities Amendment Bill 2014 get presidential assent, only the commission for University Education will have powers to inspect departments and vet courses offered in universities.
Yesterday, Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya (PSK) said if professional bodies do not subject some of these institutions to vetting, they would be hell-bent on introducing some courses, to milk more money even if their curricula fall short of professional benchmarks. “The move to change the Universities Act to exclude regulators in accrediting training of various professionals, including those who handle the lives of Kenyans would lead to massive loss of lives. We urge the President Uhuru to reject the changes,” said PSK President Paul Mwaniki (pictured).
Dr Mwaniki said training institutions should not object vetting if their programmes meet the professional standards required in various fields.
“There appears to be external forces, aiming to apparently dilute professionalism. They want to take advantage of unsuspecting Kenyans to make money. We are saying universities, local and private, must conform to the requirements,” he told the PSK annual end-year dinner at a Nairobi hotel on Friday. Mwaniki said PSK would lobby relevant agencies and arms of government to ensure tighter regulation are put in place to weed out dangerous practices in the pharmaceutical sector.
“For the next three years, we will focus on reforming the pharmacy practice to ensure it is in tandem with the Constitution and to give clients the highest quality of pharmaceutical care,” Mwaniki said.
He said to guarantee quality and safety, PSK would use a green cross branding to label all accredited pharmacy outlets to help eliminate quacks and to assure consumers of high quality medicine and services.
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