Annual medical report / Colony and Protectorate of Kenya.

  • Kenya. Medical Department.
Date:
[1954]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual medical report / Colony and Protectorate of Kenya. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/76 (page 5)
    Health Assistants carry out only a part of their training at the Hygiene School. The numbers of the various grades qualifying during the year were as follows: — Medical Staff— Hospital Assistants . . . . . . . . 29 Compounders . . . . . . . . . . 10 Laboratory Assistants . . . . . . . . 5 Orthopaedic Assistants . . . . . . . . 9 Radiographers . . . . . . . . . . 4 Sanitation Staff— Health Inspectors . . . . . . . . 3 Health Assistants . . . . . . . . 27 As usual, there were a number of resignations and dismissals during the year. The total number dismissed for various reasons was 27. In addition to these, it is necessary to record further losses which were directly due to the Emergency, 13 Learners being detained for implication in the Mau Mau movement. During the previous year three Asian girls had been accepted for training to the standard of Kenya Registered Nurse, which is a qualification equivalent to that of State Registered Nurse in the United Kingdom, and during 1954 five additional Asian girls were taken in for training to this standard. For the first time two African girls who had taken the School Certificate started their training for Kenya Registered Nurse standard. A number of girls also entered the School for training as Assistant Nurses Grade I and II. Unfortunately, as accommodation is very limited, not more than 12 African girls could be taken for training in 1954. With the opening of the new African Nurses’ Home in 1955, this state of affairs will be very greatly improved and the training of English-speaking girls as nurses, which commenced three years ago, will be greatly expanded. This will be possible as the number of English-speaking girls now applying for admission to the Nursing Training School is increasing every year. About three years ago the training of Male Dressers (i.e. Assistant Nurses, Grade II), started in certain District Hospitals. This system has now been con¬ solidated and 22 Government Hospitals and 9 Mission Hospitals are now approved by the Nurses’ and Midwives’ Council of Kenya as Grade II Training Schools. This is a major advance as, until recently, the lower grades of Male Nurses in the Medical Department did not obtain a systematic training. The various hospitals at which training is carried out vary considerably as regards the success of their candidates. This is not surprising, as many of the Nursing Sisters who are responsible for training have had no previous teaching experience. During the year, 112 candidates took the final examination for Grade II Nurses, of whom 72 were successful. The training of African girls as Grade II Assistant Nurses has hitherto been carried out solely in Nairobi, but arrangements have been made to start the training of girls in two hospitals which have now been provided with proper and secure accommodation. The two hospitals concerned are Nakuru and Nyeri. Two small Midwifery Training Schools have now been opened at Government Hospitals at Fort Hall and at Kisumu.