Veterinary College don passes on

By Ronnie Kijjambu

THE College of Veterinary medicine Makerere University has suffered the loss of one of its oldest deans.

Prof. Kenneth Okello Lapenga passed away on Saturday at Mulago National Referral hospital where he was admitted after battling with cancer of the liver.

Lapenga was referred at the hospital after he was diagnosed with the disease three months ago.

His wife Elizabeth Lapenga told the New Vision that her husband was first diagnosed with hernia but further investigation showed that he had liver cancer.

“He underwent surgery at Nsambya Hospital and had recovered before he went on holiday in the United Kingdom, but he developed complications after he returned on July 27,” his wife narrated.

Prof David Kabasa the principal of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (COVAB) said that Prof. Lapenga was an unrecoverable loss to the institution.

“He has been one of senior personnel in the college of Veterinary and is among the first graduates who started the faculty in the 1970s. He was a committed scientist of livestock production,” Kabasa said.

Prof. Lapenga was born in 1949, he went to Gulu High School for his ordinary level Ntare School for his Advanced Level, and graduated from Nairobi University in Veterinary medicine. He was also awarded a post-graduate Diploma in Veterinary Medicine from Edinburgh University before graduating with PhD Veterinary Medicine from Makerere University in 2009. 

He is survived by four children all graduates in human medicine