By Dr. Paul Kibenge, KIU Alumnus

Kampala International University Western Campus (KIU-WC), became a journey, and the journey had side trips that may have prevented you from reaching your destination. I made sure this didn’t happen to me.

After a Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education Science Certificate, I parked up, left and travelled overseas, doing all sorts of jobs: blue, black or white collar. The years in the United States sitting for the Medical College Admission Tests (MCAT), the winters in London or the seasons of Southern Africa – all brought me closer to mastering community cultures than mastering medicine, into a dream profession.

In early 2006, I saw an evening billboard advert about KIU WC opposite the main Post Office on Kampala Road. This ignited my enthusiasm to go back to school as an adult to study medicine since this was within reach. My 1st shot at admission was to re-sit A-Level. But this would expose me to doing an examination that wouldn’t guarantee studying medicine based on the points’ direct admission criteria. Then down the road, I discovered that it would be better to do a mature age entry exam, being above 25 and having the required O-level results to qualify. The other window was to do a diploma in say Clinical Medicine, which would make me spend not less than three years before joining a Bachelor’s degree program. Besides, I had been working in different lower cadre medical-related positions.

After passing the mature age exam, I went straight to the Kampala offices to pick an application. The receptionist, Jane (not her real name) told me, Sir, Medicine takes 5 years and it is not offered here in Kampala but at our Western Campus in Ishaka. I told her, "Please give me the application form, I will try to apply." And on dropping off the application, she said, "you’ll have to wait for a month for the decision to be made."

Counting every day and week I was admitted with joy and relief. The next time I saw Jane, she had come for consultation in a facility where I was working, years after Medical School and internship. I asked her if she could remember me visiting her at the reception at KIU Main Campus, and what she told me about studying medicine in Ishaka. She had forgotten being that her job met many people who she couldn’t remember by names and faces.

The course had its own hiccups but what was required was perseverance, resilience and aptitude. Halfway down the journey, I took a dead year when things got rough. One week home, I rolled back to campus and cancelled it looking at what was at stake. Adult learners always find paths going back to school with a trigger that makes them either very good or not too good at what they have gone through in life. And in a special way, having been into an international working lifestyle, grass to grace and grace to grass, this was no lemonade from lemon. From studying new courses in Biochemistry and Immunology, to managing disease conditions in everyday surgery or medicine, all the way to the in-depth of research. At Ishaka, food and its weather had to become your best allies. At the end of a long day, weekend or examination period, you had to know the relaxation zones: Kizinda, Kabagarame, African Village, Swing Inn (towards the end of the course) or you could travel to Mbarara at Vision Empire or the hot spots in Rwebikoona. It was during one of these evening trips that I saw my wife for the 1st time. We are both married with a family of 6.

Since then, KIU led me to explore greater heights. I joined Uganda Martyrs University in Nkozi to study Health Services Management, a course under Public Health. Years later, I was able to study Embryology at Maniple Academy for Higher Education in India. All these courses required me to have a Bachelor's Degree which I couldn’t have gotten had I not joined KIU WC. I have been able to work with international organizations such as the Joint Clinical Research Center, University Research Company and out as far as Southern Africa with AIDS Health Foundation (AHF in Eswatini) and recently with the Government of Namibia at Outapi District Hospital at the border with Angola. I started working with Women’s Hospital International and Sali International School of Fertility Medicine. I believe that I wouldn’t be where I am today without KIU.

There was a political debate on accreditation of courses, but this was swept away. Then debates on its charter, which ended softly. Then talk of number of patient cases for training the doctors, this is also history. Satellite hospitals in Jinja, Hoima, Mubende, Kagando, Kitagata and elsewhere equally addressed this with a pool of consultant specialists from all Universities in Uganda and beyond. Started as a diploma-awarding institution with Clinical Officers and Nurses, to offering bachelor's degree courses. Apart from Pharmacy, Medicine and Surgery but unique on the market Masters programs in Physiology, Anatomy and Bachelors of Clinical Medicine. Later, traditional programs like Masters in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Surgery or Pediatrics have been made available even with sponsorship. With new advanced medical speciality courses in Oncology, Neurosurgery and Cardiology in 2025, there is no room left for mediocrity. We can debate about many things in our health system, but just know these important facts:

• As the University celebrates its 25th anniversary, KIU has demonstrated its position in leadership and governance of fellow Drs by heading both the Uganda Medical Association and Uganda Medical Association SACCO in Uganda since 2023. At the epitome of these two national bodies are two KIU Alumni, Dr Herbert Luswata and Dr Paul Kibenge, respectively, amidst Drs from the over 10 medical schools in Uganda.
• KIU has stood out as the best private University in Uganda, ranked consecutively, above universities that existed before. In one Ugandan District, the top District Health servant and perhaps various hospital doctors have been through the hands of this one institution.
• Alumni from KIU have been absorbed and excelled in other Universities all over the world, some finishing PhD programs. Postgraduate students have moved to supervise Bachelor's students in all Universities in Uganda, including those above its academic ranking. Many Doctors have graduated and performed in East African hospitals and other institutions outside Uganda, more than within.
• The qualifications or salary rates for health care workers are not based on one’s university name for the employers. To the contrary, the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council registers doctors from all Medical Schools that have fulfilled course curriculum requirements set by the National Council of Higher Education, NCHE, an umbrella regulatory arm of the Ministry of Education and Sports, MoES.
• Attracting East African students and further South as far as Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe, from Somalia to KIU left observers pondering if qualifications will be accepted in countries outside Uganda is part of our history.
• The University has attracted funding from within and outside the continent to offer opportunities for academic excellence and research.
• You can settle for a ‘life sentence course’ against your will, if and only if you choose to, but the doors were opened to study medicine if you qualify to. Scarcity amidst plenty is behind us.

Dr. Paul Kibenge, Chairperson of Uganda Medical Association SACCO
KIU Alumni and Maniple Academy of Higher Education, India.
Sali International School of Fertility Medicine, Kampala