Janet praises Aga Khan on education and health

 Education minister Janet Museveni yesterday lauded His Highness the Aga Khan for his pioneering and innovative investments in high-quality education and health services for the underprivileged.
Speaking at an event to break the ground for commencement of the construction of an Aga Khan University and teaching hospital in Kampala, Ms Museveni said the institutions will inject competition and revolutionise higher education and specialised healthcare delivery in the country.
“The Aga Khan University and the hospital will bring to our country healthy competition because I know that their performance is excellent at whatever work they set themselves to do,” she said, adding, “And it is humbling to learn that this university will also provide access to the under-privileged as it also conducts ground-breaking research on issues that affect millions of people.”

The groundbreaking ceremony attended by Princess Zahra Aga Khan was held in Nakawa, the eastern outskirt of the capital where the multi-facility complex will headline a modern skyline.
Minister Janet Museveni, who is also Uganda’s First Lady, said the university and hospital will skill a new crop of distinguished doctors, nurses and midwives to undergird the country’s health sector for generations. 
Describing the building of the university, hospital and students’ residences as the largest current investment of Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in East Africa, Ms Museveni said “all of us know [that] AKDN service is not new to our country, it has walked with us for close to 100 years”.

“Therefore, it is only right and befitting to thank Princess Zahra in a special way, who came [yesterday] leading His Highness the Aga-Khan’s new blessing to Uganda as we lay yet another brick on the foundation of this partnership,” she added.
AKDN brings together nine development agencies whose joint work is dedicated to “improving the quality of life of those in need” through a multifaceted approach.
Its development footprints – across health, education, energy sectors and social infrastructure, business and finance and the built environment and cultural preservation – straddle selected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and South and Central Asia.
At yesterday’s ground-breaking ceremony in Kampala, Princess Zahra Aga Khan said that the mission of AKDN in the region, like elsewhere, is to ameliorate the quality of people’s lives by developing human capacity, building resilient communities, generating economic growth, and honouring cultural heritage.
“The Aga Khan Development Network’s goal in East Africa is to build a network of clinics and hospitals that brings primary care as close to people’s homes as possible while also linking them seamlessly to advanced care,” she said.
The Princess added: “We aim for these facilities to be staffed by highly trained clinicians, equipped with the latest technologies, and prepared to address the region’s changing burden of disease.”

She said whereas the Aga Khan University has already graduated more than 3,000 highly-qualified nurses in East Africa, the Kampala campus will add a new four-year bachelor’s degree course for other health professionals.
“It will train much-needed medical specialists through its residency programmes in surgery, internal medicine and other fields. Its faculty will pursue scientific research on questions of importance to the region,” Princess Zahra said, adding, “Offering care in two dozen specialties, it will provide families with the peace of mind that comes from knowing that comprehensive, specialised care is available close to home.”
Hundreds of Ugandan families with relatively deep pockets have over the years flown their ailing members for specialised care either at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, or elsewhere.

Uganda government spends Shs377b a year to treat its eligible officials abroad.
Princess Zahra yesterday said that the Aga Khan University in Kampala will aim to achieve the same levels of accreditation as the ones in Nairobi and Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, making it Uganda’s first health facility to achieve the highest international quality accreditation.
“Like the other Aga Khan hospitals, it will offer a patient welfare programme that ensures access to care for lower-income patients,” she said.

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