Dr. Kelly Oluoch, Chief Executive Officer of KMTC, outlined the institution’s strategic approach to broadening access to medical education while enhancing graduate competitiveness in domestic and international employment markets during a media briefing on April 30.
“We have a range that allows a student with a C- or a C to apply for either a certificate course, a diploma course, a higher diploma course or an upgrading course,” Dr. Oluoch explained. The comprehensive program portfolio encompasses short courses, certificates, diplomas, and higher diplomas distributed across multiple academic faculties.
Academic Offerings Span Multiple Disciplines
The college’s Faculty of Clinical Sciences delivers training in clinical medicine, emergency medical technology, and orthopaedic trauma medicine. Meanwhile, the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences administers pharmacy programs at both diploma and higher diploma levels.
Additional faculties include Public Health Sciences, which prepares personnel for disease outbreak prevention and management, and the Information Technology and Medical Education faculty, focused on medical records administration.
The Diagnostic Sciences faculty encompasses medical laboratory sciences, medical imaging sciences, and optometry programs. The Nursing Sciences faculty, which enrolls KMTC’s largest student cohort, provides certificate, diploma, and higher diploma qualifications.
Strong Market Demand Drives International Expansion
Dr. Oluoch emphasized robust employer demand for KMTC graduates across both local and international healthcare sectors. “Demand is not only for the local market but also for the international market. In the local market, KMTC contributes over 85% of the middle-level health workforce of the country,” he stated.
The institution’s international placement activity has expanded considerably. In the previous year, KMTC facilitated external market placement for 4,084 graduates, including 84 occupational therapy and physiotherapy professionals deployed to Germany.
To prepare students for international postings, the college has integrated language instruction in French, German, Arabic, and Amharic into its curriculum, complemented by coursework in medical entrepreneurship.
U.S. and Canadian Market Access Secured
In a significant development for nursing graduates, KMTC has arranged local access to the NCLEX-RN licensure examination, streamlining entry into United States and Canadian nursing markets.
“We have negotiated for examinations that allow our students to get into foreign markets like the U.S. and Canada, which is through the NCLEX-RN examination centre that is now here in Nairobi,” Dr. Oluoch noted.
Program Design Prioritizes Market Readiness
The CEO highlighted KMTC’s commitment to efficient program delivery aligned with labor market requirements.
“KMTC has tailored its courses to take the shortest period of time and to allow our graduates to quickly emerge after graduation to access the job market,” he said, noting that the college has established partnerships with institutions to facilitate direct graduate-employer connections.
Dr. Oluoch also referenced recent qualifications framework reforms designed to enhance graduate mobility. “We have worked with the Kenya National Qualifications Authority to equate most of our higher diplomas to most of the degree courses to allow for greater employability of our graduates and to allow graduates to progress to higher degrees should they want to learn in their areas of choice,” he explained.
Interested applicants are advised to submit their applications through the KUCCPS online portal or visit any of KMTC’s 92 campuses nationwide before the May 6 deadline.