SORT YOUR MESS! Gov’t defends halting of registration of Makerere vet doctors

The Minister of State for Higher Education, John Muyingo has revealed that the decision by the Uganda Veterinary Board (UVB), is due to the need for the professional body to include their input in the new curriculum for the programme being taught at Makerere University.

The Minister’s remarks were in response to a concern raised by Abed Bwanika (Kimanya-Kabonero) who tasked the Ministry of Education to explain circumstances under which the Veterinary Board halted registration of Veterinary Medicine graduates, saying such a drastic decision has condemned them to unemployment because they can’t practice without being registered by their professional body.

Bwanika cited a letter authored by the registrar of Uganda veterinary board informing the principal of the veterinary college over the teaching facilities at the College of Veterinary Medicine, on grounds that it is affecting the quality of graduates being released by Makerere University.

Bwanika remarked, “You can’t practice unless you are registered, this has affected service delivery and it has also affected the graduates themselves. The Veterinary Board said they have reservations on the training standards at the veterinary school.”

Minister Muyingo in response said, the halting of registration of new veterinary medical doctors is part of the new curriculum activities where Government is trying to all concerned stakeholders as much as possible in determining what happens in the lecture rooms and what happens to our students throughout the entire exercise.

“This is what happens. So, when it comes to these professional bodies, they have looked at what we are doing, and they have advised us. It isn’t a policy or law; we are trying to consult on what should happen? That is one body that has been consulted, we are consulting other bodies and very soon, we have written our assessment and very soon, we shall be coming to Parliament with a detailed statement about what is happening,” said Minister Muyingo.

The development comes at the time in April 2023, the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, Barnabas Nawangwe appealed to Parliament to ensure that the Shs52Bn required by the University to carry out renovations and equipping of facilities at Colleges of Medicine and Veterinary medicine is availed after the Veterinary Board announced its decision to halt registration of veterinary doctors from Makerere University over poor teaching facilities.

The Uganda Veterinary Board is the profession regulatory body established by The Veterinary Surgeons Act 1958, Cap 277) and it is the body mandated to ensure that animal health services are offered by qualified, registered and licensed veterinary professionals.

Nawangwe warned that if the funds aren’t availed, the same fate will befall medical graduates after their professional body, the medical and dental practitioners’ council threatened to halt the registration of medical graduates due to unacceptable training infrastructure and inadequate staffing of the respective college of medicine.

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