By Reporter
The Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) has appealed to Members of Parliament to secure Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) financing for its students, warning that their exclusion from state funding forces thousands of qualified candidates to abandon their training.
Appearing before the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) Committee, chaired by Hon. Musa Sirma, the KMTC management, led by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Kelly Oluoch, provided updates on NG-CDF-funded projects and reviewed constituencies hosting campus facilities.
Dr Oluoch informed the Committee that although the college trains more than 85 per cent of Kenya’s healthcare workforce, its 89,586 students struggle to access state financial aid simply because KMTC falls under the Ministry of Health rather than the Ministry of Education.
“KMTC should not have to leave the Ministry of Health to get funded. National financing legislation should recognise KMTC trainees as post-secondary students deserving equitable state funding,” Dr Oluoch told MPs.
The CEO highlighted an ongoing admissions crisis, explaining that 20,000 students placed through the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) fail to report each cycle after discovering that no government scholarships or loans are available.
Committee Members noted that this exclusion creates a double loss: financially constrained students must surrender their slots, while other qualified applicants are turned away because those places were already allocated.
To minimise wasted admissions, Hon. Clive Gisairo (Kitutu Masaba) suggested that KMTC and KUCCPS require applicants to declare their financial ability before placement.
“You need a disclaimer during the course application, informing students that there’s no funding from government for KMTC courses. You should collaborate with KUCCPS for a pop-up message on their portal so that students get the information that those courses are self-sponsored,” said Hon. Gisairo.
Hon. Sirma backed KMTC’s plea, questioning why an institution vital to national healthcare training remains excluded from the country’s KSh 300 billion education financing package.
“It makes no sense for KMTC, which trains over 85 per cent of healthcare workers, to be left out simply because it sits under the Ministry of Health rather than the Ministry of Education,” said Hon. Sirma.
Defending KMTC’s placement under the Ministry of Health, Dr Oluoch emphasised that its training is heavily clinical, relying on hospital attachments, clinical preceptors and specialised health regulatory bodies.
He pointed to Bukura Agricultural College (Ministry of Agriculture), the Kenya Water Institute (Ministry of Water) and Utalii College (Ministry of Tourism) as precedents for specialised institutions remaining under their respective line ministries.
To ensure equitable funding for all tertiary students regardless of ministry jurisdiction, Dr Oluoch proposed placing the envisaged Tertiary Education Funding Authority (TEFA) under the National Treasury.
