Medical Education in Uganda - a critique

ABSTRACT

There is a growing concern that all is not well with undergraduate medical education in Uganda. Our medical schools are having difficulty in achieving their educational objectives. Undergraduate teaching is uneven in quality; variable in commitment and lacking in co-ordinated objectives. The consequence is that the students are losers. if medical students are losing out today; patients will lose out tomorrow. A large proportion of young graduates have limited communication skills; have a poor grasp of clinical logic; are uncertain in their choice of diagnostic tests; make poor decisions in prescribing and have a poor grasp of ethical principles. Even more alarmingly; a significant number of our senior medical students and house officers are deficient in basic clinical skills of taking a focussed history and making a physical examination. If these matters are to be rectified; we need a fundamental rethink of the role of our medical schools in producing the doctors of tomorrow. In this paper (monograph) I would like to examine the current state of our undergraduate medical education and attempt to highlight the relevant remedial steps: