Sh2.4bn for students

Dar es Salaam. More than 800 students pursuing a certificate course in Nursing, Pharmacy, Clinical Officer and Laboratory Technician are to benefit from a Sh2.4 billion support from the Benjamin Mkapa HIV/Aids Foundation (BMAF) between 2014 and 2016.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday the BMAF chief executive officer, Dr Ellen Mkondya, said the aim of the project was to support the government in reducing the critical shortage, estimated at 56 per cent of health workers in the country, with rural areas the most affected.

This is the second time BMAF is funding the education of students from both the public and private health institutions of learning through its five-year project aimed at health systems strengthening which ends in 2016.

Dr Mkondya said the names of the students were obtained through the National Council for Technical Education (NACTE) Centralised Application and Selection System.

“We did not select the students to support...we got them through NACTE systems. The students are from 93 colleges, with 73 per cent of them enrolled in either private or religious colleges and the rest from public institutions. This support will enable those in private institutions to foot 50 per cent of their tuition fees via direct payment to college accounts. Those in public institutions will be supported through various items that include tuition fees and practical training,” she said.

She said the students, however, have signed agreements with councils that they will work for after the completion of their studies.

This is one of the means to encourage them remain in their areas for work but BMAF has also trained about 2000 council leaders of various position on how to retain the workers.

She said, “Part form good pay, they need also to create attractive environment for new employees such as providing them with houses, budgeting and design motivation packages in order to retain them.”

For her part the programme manager Ms Adeline Nyamwihura said the emphasis is on the aforementioned causes because they are the most areas affected, but pharmacists are the most difficult to retain especially in rural areas.