For medical students, the most important lessons are often not learnt inside lecture rooms.
They are learnt beside hospital beds, in busy outpatient departments, inside laboratories and during clinical rotations where classroom theory is tested against the realities of treating patients.
For students at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) Awendo Campus, however, getting to those learning environments has been a persistent challenge.
That challenge has now received a major intervention following the handover of a new bus funded by the Awendo National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF).
The vehicle is expected to ferry students to hospitals, satellite institutions and other health facilities where they undertake practical training, while also supporting the campus in its push to expand its academic programmes.
Awendo MP Walter Owino, who handed over the bus to KMTC officials, said the investment followed a request from the institution’s management for transport to facilitate students’ mobility.
The MP described the intervention as part of a wider commitment to supporting the growth of the campus, which he said has the potential to become a major medical training centre serving Awendo and the wider Migori region.
“The bus has been fully funded by NG-CDF Awendo, and this was done following a request by the institution’s management,” Owino said.
The request, he explained, was driven by the need to transport students from the campus to satellite institutions and surrounding health facilities for practical training.
The new vehicle therefore comes at a crucial stage in the development of the campus, which is seeking to move beyond its current programme offering and introduce courses that require extensive clinical exposure.
The bus that could unlock new courses
The most significant promise attached to the bus may not be the journeys it will make, but the academic doors it could help open.
Owino said the institution was still at an early stage of development and that the acquisition of the bus was among the requirements needed to support expansion.
He said there were programmes that could not easily be introduced because of transport-related challenges.
“There are courses that could not be offered earlier due to transport challenges; now that barrier is removed,” he said.
The MP nevertheless acknowledged that the bus was only one component of the infrastructure needed for the campus to expand.
He challenged KMTC management to use the new resource to increase the number of courses offered and create opportunities for more students.
“From where I sit, they ought to increase the number of courses offered here,” he said.
That ambition has already received backing from KMTC headquarters.
Nursing and Clinical Medicine on the horizon
KMTC Chief Executive Officer Dr Kelly Oluoch said the institution currently offers three programmes at Awendo.
He said the college now plans to mount additional courses, specifically Nursing and Clinical Medicine, once the necessary conditions are in place.
The two programmes would significantly broaden the campus’s contribution to medical training in Migori County.
For a county whose health facilities require a steady supply of trained professionals, expanding the local training capacity could help build a larger pool of healthcare workers.
But medical training requires practical exposure, and this is where the new bus becomes critical.
Dr Oluoch said the vehicle would facilitate clinical attachments in various hospitals across the county.
“The acquisition of this bus will allow us to mount additional courses, specifically Nursing and Clinical Medicine, providing more opportunities for youth from Migori County to join,” he said.
The CEO urged students and parents to take advantage of opportunities available through KMTC’s campuses in the county instead of automatically looking for institutions outside the region.
KMTC currently has three campuses in Migori County — Awendo, Migori and Kuria.
The college is using the network to expand access to medical training for young people within the county.
A project born in 2018
The Awendo campus itself is a relatively young institution, but its journey began several years before the first students walked into its classrooms.
According to Dr Oluoch, the foundation stone was laid in 2018 by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Five years later, in 2023, the campus admitted its first cohort of students.
The transition from a foundation stone to an operating medical college has therefore taken place within a relatively short period.
But the next phase presents a different challenge — how to build an institution capable of offering a wider range of programmes while providing students with the facilities and clinical exposure required by their courses.
The new bus is being positioned as part of that next phase.
Owino’s early investment in the campus
Awendo NG-CDF’s relationship with the campus predates the latest bus donation.
Owino said the constituency fund fully sponsored the first 50 students admitted when the campus opened.
Those students have since completed their studies, he said, while NG-CDF continues to support students from the local area.
The support is intended to make medical education more accessible to young people who might otherwise be unable to afford training far from home.
“When the first batch of students was admitted to this institution, Awendo NG-CDF fully sponsored the first 50 students. They completed their studies and cleared. Even now, we are still sponsoring students from this local area,” Owino said.
For the MP, the investment is also about ensuring that a facility established in Awendo serves the community that hosts it.
He encouraged local residents to make use of the institution and urged young people interested in healthcare careers to apply for available programmes.
County government becomes a critical partner
The expansion of KMTC Awendo will, however, require collaboration beyond NG-CDF.
Dr Oluoch said KMTC was working with the Migori County Government to upgrade Awendo Health Facility to Level Four.
The proposed upgrade is significant because students undertaking clinical courses require access to appropriately equipped health facilities for their practical training.
A stronger local hospital would provide an important clinical placement site for students and reduce the logistical burden associated with sending trainees to facilities farther away.
Dr Oluoch acknowledged the county government’s support, including the secondment of technical staff and provision of clinical placement opportunities.
The relationship between the college and county health department could become even more important as the campus introduces additional programmes.
Owino similarly called for closer cooperation between the county and national governments to meet the infrastructure requirements needed for medical training.
He said NG-CDF had delivered its part by providing the bus but would continue advocating for collaboration with the county administration under Governor Ochilo Ayacko and other national government agencies.
KMTC board: Partnerships are key
KMTC Board Chairperson Josiah Cheruiyot described the bus as an important addition to the institution’s efforts to engage communities and expand its programmes.
He thanked Owino and Awendo NG-CDF for supporting the campus, saying the vehicle would enhance students’ mobility and improve their experience during field training.
Cheruiyot described the vehicle as a “mobile class”, because students will be able to use it to reach facilities where they put their classroom knowledge into practice.
He said the bus would also contribute to student retention by making clinical placements more convenient.
“It will enhance our engagement with the community, expand our programs, and improve student retention,” Cheruiyot said.
The KMTC board chairman said partnership was a key component of the college’s strategic plan, with NG-CDFs across the country playing an important role in supporting infrastructure and resource mobilisation.
He also acknowledged the contribution of the county government in providing staff and clinical placement opportunities.
Investment in the country’s health workforce
The handover was also framed within Kenya’s broader push towards Universal Health Coverage.
Dr Hezron Omondi Omollo, a KMTC board member representing the Director General for Health, said the training of healthcare workers was central to the government’s UHC agenda.
He identified four critical pillars of UHC: human resources for health; health products and technologies; healthcare financing; and digital health.
Human resources, he said, remain foundational because the health system requires adequately trained personnel to deliver services to citizens.
The Awendo investment therefore has implications beyond the constituency.
Every additional student trained at the campus represents another potential healthcare worker entering Kenya’s health system.
Dr Omollo thanked Awendo NG-CDF and Owino for contributing to the training of the country’s future health workforce.
A regional hub in the making
Owino sees a bigger future for the institution.
He said he maintains a strong working relationship with KMTC management, including its board leadership and senior officials, and expressed optimism that continued cooperation would enable the Awendo campus to grow into a major regional hub.
That ambition would place the campus at the centre of a wider ecosystem involving students, health facilities, the county government, NG-CDF and the national health system.
For local residents, the potential benefits extend beyond education.
An expanding campus can generate demand for accommodation, transport, food, retail services and other businesses.
More importantly, it can create an environment in which young people from Migori pursue careers in healthcare without necessarily leaving the county.
The road ahead
The bus has solved one problem, but the bigger test now begins.
KMTC must expand its infrastructure, recruit the necessary teaching staff, equip laboratories and secure adequate clinical placement opportunities if the planned programmes are to become reality.
The proposed upgrade of Awendo Health Facility will therefore be an important part of that equation.
So will continued cooperation between NG-CDF, KMTC, the Ministry of Health and the Migori County Government.
Owino said NG-CDF had fulfilled its responsibility by delivering the vehicle and would continue supporting the institution within its mandate.
For KMTC, meanwhile, the expectation is clear: use the new resource to expand training opportunities and reach more young people.
Dr Oluoch urged prospective students to use the KUCCPS placement system to seek admission to KMTC campuses in Migori.
His message was particularly directed at students facing financial challenges.
Studying closer to home, he suggested, can reduce the costs associated with travel and accommodation while giving young people access to professional training within their own county.
From a foundation stone to a moving classroom
There is a symbolic quality to the latest development.
In 2018, the Awendo site represented a promise of a medical training institution.
In 2023, the promise became tangible when the first students were admitted.
Now, the arrival of the NG-CDF-funded bus represents another stage in that evolution — taking students out of classrooms and into the hospitals where their professional skills will be tested.
The vehicle will travel the roads of Migori carrying students to clinical facilities, but its significance could ultimately be measured in something far less visible: the number of nurses, clinical officers and other health professionals who emerge from Awendo and go on to serve communities.
For Owino, the investment is part of fulfilling a promise to the institution.
For KMTC, it is a resource to support expansion.
For the county, it is another step towards strengthening its health workforce.
And for hundreds of young people looking for a pathway into healthcare, the new bus could represent something more personal — a shorter road between the classroom and the career they hope to build.
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