Four centres of excellence in biomedicine will be established in East Africa to help tackle the rising cases of non-communicable diseases.

The centres will be established in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania with the help of the African Development Bank, which announced recently that it will help East African countries develop relevant skills in research and treatment of diseases.

The centre of excellence in Kenya will focus on nephrology and urology, the one in Uganda will specialise in oncology, while the one in Tanzania will deal with cardiovascular issues. In Rwanda, the centre of excellence will focus on biomedical engineering and e-health.

The total cost of the four centres is estimated at $97 million, with $37.5 million going to finance the Kenya component. They are expected to be completed before the end of the year.

“The centres will be modelled according to prescribed standards and will be provided with state of-the-art infrastructure and teaching facilities,” said Gabriel Negatu, the regional director for AfDB’s Eastern Africa Regional Resource Centre.

Eyes on EAC students

The centre of excellence in Kenya will be referred to as the East Africa Kidney Institute and will operate as part of the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta National Hospital — the country’s largest referral hospital. Kenya’s Finance Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said the institute will target students from the EAC.

In recent years, East Africa has experienced increased cases of non-communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Medical experts say the trend is a threat to the gains made in human capital development and productivity.

Due to the inadequate number of doctors and ill-equipped medical facilities, hundreds of EAC citizens have been forced to seek specialised services abroad. It is estimated that once operational, the centres of excellence will benefit more than 150 million EAC citizens.

“The EAC citizens will benefit through affordable, quality and accredited biomedical tertiary education; and the private sector will get qualified and accredited relevant skilled workforce instead of relying on foreign professionals,” said Mr Negatu.