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Bogus medical college in Nairobi closed for offering courses without license


Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists (KMLTT) Board has upped the ante in the crackdown on medical colleges operating without accreditation.

The latest college to fall victim to the board is Regional Institute of Business Management located on the second floor of Ufundi Co-operative Plaza, opposite Jevanjee Gardens along Moi Avenue in Nairobi.

The institution was closed on Friday by the board for offering medical laboratory programmes without approval license from the agency.

The KMLTT officials arrested the college’s Principal Mr Joshua Olet and two lecturers Eric Okindo, a Parasitology lecturer, and Calvin Omondi, a Microbiology lecturer.

“We laid an ambush and the operation was successful. We managed to get the principal and two notorious lecturers whom we have apprehended with enough exhibit and we will book them in so that they can be charged in the court of law. The real owner is on the run but we will apprehend her,” said Mr James Sakwa, who led the operation.

NOT ACCREDITED

He said that the three individuals, who were booked at Upper Hill police station on Friday, will be arraigned in court on Monday to face charges of operating an illegal institution.

“They are going to be charged with operating an illegal institution and the biggest penalty is to the proprietor and those who run the institution. They could be jailed for 15 years and fined up to Sh10 million,” he said.

Mr Sakwa explained that the college does not have minimum entry requirements, the teachers are not registered and the college itself is not accredited.

“We cannot let this kind of impunity to rein. So to save Kenyans we just have to close it,” said Mr Sakwa.

Mr Sakwa said that the college, which was founded in 1999 but has been operating medical laboratory courses since 2013, is notorious for flouting the board’s regulation and was first issued a closure notice in 2016 by Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA) but continued with its operation.

In October last year, another notice was given to the institution so as to comply as it was not licensed medical laboratory course without a laboratory and the programme was discontinued but the college defied all the orders.

OUTDATED EQUIPMENT

“We have given the institution enough time to comply so as to get a license but they have failed to do so. Even after we closed the school and put a notice, they removed it and coaxed parents and students to come back. We will now close it until they comply,” he said.

He said that during the swoop, they managed to get 26 certificates and 40 registration forms for students admitted at the institution and two revision books. They also confiscated obsolete equipment, including a water bag, sterilization equipment, and expired reagents.

“These equipment cannot be used for any test so even the demonstrations they are doing to students are questionable,” he said.

The college now joins the list of growing institutions that have been closed for operating without meeting the standards required to offer a course in medical laboratory.

King’s College, which is associated with former government pathologist Moses Njue, was also closed by the board in January for the same reasons.

Mr Sakwa admitted that there are many institutions that offer medical courses without certification in the country but stated that the agency will not relent until all of them comply.