Education, health clash over varsity
Apr 30, 2005
THE education and health ministries are locked in a wrangle over tuition fees at Mbarara University of Science and technology (MUST).
By John Eremu
THE education and health ministries are locked in a wrangle over tuition fees at Mbarara University of Science and technology (MUST).
The education ministry wants the cost reduced from sh19.6m to sh10m per student per year. It wants to retain the training element but have the hospital services and their budget transferred to the health ministry.
But the health ministry does not want the teaching component separated from the hospital before the university reverts to its authority next financial year.
“We agreed that the budgetary provision for the financial year be transferred to the health ministry,†said under secretary in the health ministry Albert mugumya.
“We are talking about the totality of the institution. Since it has been running as a single unit, there is nothing like dividing it,†he said.
The university academic registrar, Steven Bazirake, in a January 1 letter to the education ministry said the university had not yet been transferred to the health ministry and that its budget should still include the cost of maintaining the 425 government-sponsored students and the patients.
But Francis Lubanga, the education ministry permanent secretary, said the unit costs should be reduced to exclude the hospital expenses.
“We have never run a hospital. Our duty is to run the university,†Lubanga said.
The ministry said there was no justification for the unit cost to remain sh19m, yet a task force of experts had recommended that it be brought down. The unit cost for medical education at Makerere University is sh5.1m, although sh9.2m is recommended.
“The task force on unit cost for universities report of April 2004 recommended a unit cost of sh10,193,352 per student per year for MUST and there is yet no justification for the higher unit cost than the recommended one,†Godfrey Dhatemwa, the education ministry assistant commissioner for budgeting, said.
Education ministry officials said it was up to the health ministry to budget for the hospital services.
“When health training institutions were transferred to the education ministry, they came without money and it was our responsibility to budget for them,†an official said.
Lubanga said as a regional referral hospital, Mbarara hospital must have a budget under the health ministry.
“The issue that needs clarification now is whether it is a referral hospital or a teaching hospital owned by the university. Is it a referral hospital that only hosts medical students like Mulago or not?†Lubanga asked, adding that the memorandum of understanding signed with health only transferred the hospital services.
“I want conceptual and organisational clarity so that we agree on funding and administrative mechanism for accountability,†Lubanga said.
THE education and health ministries are locked in a wrangle over tuition fees at Mbarara University of Science and technology (MUST).
The education ministry wants the cost reduced from sh19.6m to sh10m per student per year. It wants to retain the training element but have the hospital services and their budget transferred to the health ministry.
But the health ministry does not want the teaching component separated from the hospital before the university reverts to its authority next financial year.
“We agreed that the budgetary provision for the financial year be transferred to the health ministry,†said under secretary in the health ministry Albert mugumya.
“We are talking about the totality of the institution. Since it has been running as a single unit, there is nothing like dividing it,†he said.
The university academic registrar, Steven Bazirake, in a January 1 letter to the education ministry said the university had not yet been transferred to the health ministry and that its budget should still include the cost of maintaining the 425 government-sponsored students and the patients.
But Francis Lubanga, the education ministry permanent secretary, said the unit costs should be reduced to exclude the hospital expenses.
“We have never run a hospital. Our duty is to run the university,†Lubanga said.
The ministry said there was no justification for the unit cost to remain sh19m, yet a task force of experts had recommended that it be brought down. The unit cost for medical education at Makerere University is sh5.1m, although sh9.2m is recommended.
“The task force on unit cost for universities report of April 2004 recommended a unit cost of sh10,193,352 per student per year for MUST and there is yet no justification for the higher unit cost than the recommended one,†Godfrey Dhatemwa, the education ministry assistant commissioner for budgeting, said.
Education ministry officials said it was up to the health ministry to budget for the hospital services.
“When health training institutions were transferred to the education ministry, they came without money and it was our responsibility to budget for them,†an official said.
Lubanga said as a regional referral hospital, Mbarara hospital must have a budget under the health ministry.
“The issue that needs clarification now is whether it is a referral hospital or a teaching hospital owned by the university. Is it a referral hospital that only hosts medical students like Mulago or not?†Lubanga asked, adding that the memorandum of understanding signed with health only transferred the hospital services.
“I want conceptual and organisational clarity so that we agree on funding and administrative mechanism for accountability,†Lubanga said.