Makerere University College of Health Sciences Medical Students Put a smile on the Faces of Kireka Residents

The medical students of Makerere University College of Health Sciences working in partnership with TASO-Mulago, Bank of Africa and Miracle Centre Church-Kireka, conducted a free medical camp for the residents of Kireka near Kampala. By 8.00am on Saturday 21st July 2012, the grounds of Miracle Centre were alive with people seeking the free medical care courtesy of this rather unusual partnership.

Over three hundred and twenty adults and children benefited from the free services offered. The services included dental, medical, cancer awareness and screening, HIV testing and counselling as well as consultations on banking and saving (Bank of Africa) for better health planning. Many of the residents who turned up had lived with nagging conditions because they could not afford the fees involved, yet for others it was just ‘a stitch in time’. The students were led by their president of the Makerere University Medical Students Association, MUMSA, Peter James Kitonsa, who emphasised that students can contribute even more to making health services accessible to people, while they are learning, gaining knowledge of the kind of communities they are to work in once they qualify and building their social entrepreneurial skills at the same time.

Through partnerships like the one through which this work was done, the less privileged can access the much-needed health care. More details are in the attachment