In order to meet the need to expand human resource capacity to deliver quality healthcare services in Uganda, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) and Global Health Collaborative provide scholarships. these scholarships arise out of the goodwill and several generous donors that work in partnership with MUST and MGH.
On March 17th, 2023, Dr. Joseph Ngonzi the Dean Faculty of Medicine, representatives from MUST Grants Office, Academic Registrar, Global Health Collaborative, and MUST Directorate of Research and Graduate Training handed over award letters to successful scholarship applicants as confirmation of the
scholarships.
A total of 22 students have been awarded scholarships to pursue studies at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST). 6 students were selected to study Master of Medicine each specializing in Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dermatology, pathology, and anesthesia. 16 students were selected to pursue masters in Nursing specializing in critical care, mental health, and midwifery
Dr. Brian Turigye the Program Officer for First Mile Clinical Collaborations-MUST said that they selected these programmes because they have aspects of supporting the critical care workforce to boost service delivery for nursing care. They chose disciplines in Medicine that didn’t benefit from the previous scholarships.
He said that as First Mile Clinical Collaboration at MUST, they are hopeful that these awardees will progress well in academics and after their studies, they will contribute to healthcare service delivery within the respective communities, they will be serving. The scholarships cover full tuition and research fees.
Ms. Katusiime Agnes one of the scholarship awardees expressed gratitude to the First Mile Clinical Collaboration, Global health collaboration, MUST, and Massachusetts General Hospital for investing in the acquisition of knowledge through awarding such scholarships.
‘’I feel delighted because I’m going to study Master of Nursing specializing in midwifery on this scholarship from First Mile, I know we were very many people that applied for this scholarship but I’m among those who were successfully awarded. I thank the sponsors for coming up with this good idea and above all, I thank God for enabling me to get this award. This scholarship will enable me to gain more knowledge on the management of mothers in antenatal care, and health education at the high- risk obstetric ward at Mbarara regional referral hospital,’’ She thanked.
According to Dr. Turigye Brian, the first Scholarships under this scheme were awarded way back in 2011 to Masters of Medicine students and later on were rolled out to include Masters of Nursing awards in critical care. MUST saw its first sponsored Master of Medicine students graduate in the year 2014. Since then, over 60 sponsored students have graduated from the Faculty of Medicine across the respective departments of nursing, internal medicine, public health, radiology, surgery, pediatrics, pathology, obstetrics and gynecology, medical lab science, microbiology, physiology, biochemistry, and other departments in the Faculty of Medicine.