The University's PGME programmes in East Africa are based in Aga Khan University Hospitals in Nairobi, Kenya (above) and Dar es Salam, Tanzania.

In keeping with its international mandate and mission to develop quality human resources in the areas of health and education, Aga Khan University (AKU) has witnessed rapid expansion in recent years and now has nine teaching sites in six countries in Africa, Asia and Europe.

In East Africa, the Advanced Nursing Studies (ANS) programme has served as the springboard for the University’s more recent initiatives in the field of health care. At the invitation of the respective governments, the first ANS programme in East Africa was established in 2001 in Kampala, Uganda, followed by Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, in 2002. In all three countries, ANS programmes have helped improve nursing education and practice as well as patient care delivery at primary, secondary and tertiary levels in both public and private sectors.

Building on the pioneering work of the ANS programme, AKU in Karachi has been expanding its Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) programme. This has been made possible through close cooperation with Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) and by adapting many of the rigorously tested pogramme structures and curricula in place in Karachi to the East African educational environment.

Following the upgrade of facilities at Aga Khan Hospitals in Tanzania and Kenya, a family medicine PGME programme commenced in Dar-es-Salaam in 2004 while internal medicine, surgery and radiology programmes got under way in Nairobi also in 2004. Additional PGME specialisations at Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi (AKUH,N) now include anaesthesiology, obstetrics and gynaecology, anatomic pathology, clinical pathology and paediatrics.

Leading to a MMed degree, these four-year PGME programmes aim to provide residents with the skills needed for basic clinical competence in their chosen speciality. Programmes are ‘competency-based’ and designed to produce physicians who, through education and scholarship, are lifelong learners.

In addition to medical expertise, the scope of this education includes biomedical ethics, research methodology and critical appraisal and communication and teaching skills. A system of regular internal review is in place to ensure continuous improvement and maintenance of appropriate educational content. Faculty mentorship and role modeling ensure that physicians-in-training acquire scholarship and leadership skills in their respective fields. Learning is contextual and intended to be relevant to the health care needs of East Africa.

“Aga Khan University strives to instil the qualities of critical thinking and analysis in its graduates through carefully structured programmes,” comments Dr Mushtaq Ahmed, Associate Dean of the PGME programme in East Africa. “The objective is not only to produce skilled technologists but also to facilitate a process of broad professional and personal development in the region’s health and education sectors.”