With the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to ravage, the country has evaluated numerous options to have the damage mitigated, among these solutions was a recent proposal to have medical schools reopened since all learning institutions were closed to curb the spread of coronna virus.
The First Lady Janet Museveni who is also the minister for Education, convened the closed-door meeting at State House Entebbe to discuss the pros and cons of opening medical schools. The meeting attendees had a challenging meeting that ended without a decision on when government should reopen gates for medical students. The closed-door meeting that started in the morning ended at 6 PM and was not conclusive because most members especially the scientists expressed concerns about what happened to schools before the government announced the 42 day lockdown that ended last week.
Last Friday, the President instructed the Education ministry Health minis try and the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) officials to meet and discuss safe reopening of medical schools. The meeting was also attended by scientists from the national covid task force but reached no agreement but to convene another meeting and inspect the medical schools, evaluate preparedness and installation of standard operating procedures.
The government officials in the meeting agreed that the planned re-opening of medical schools should be deferred to allow more time for preparation and warned that any attempts to rush the reopening might open flood gates for infections and in worst case scenario, death of some students.
Other sources, who attended the meeting, said officials from the Ministry of Education asked their Health counterparts to ensure all the medical students are vaccinated and where possible, encourage parents to test their children before sending them to schools
