Do medical sciences interest you?
Get to know
more about the top 10 medical schools in Kenya in this guide.
We have based our
selection on the following criteria (among others):
- Teaching
infrastructure (lecture halls, laboratories, cadavers, and more).
- Lecturer-student
ratio (you don’t want to attend overcrowded classes).
- Quality of
the faculty (Qualifications, experience, etc.)
- Governance
- Student affairs.
- Patient load in each school’s teaching hospital.
- Research and
innovation and
- Compliance
with the set medical and dental training teaching standards and other guidelines.
Note that the
ranking information is adopted from inspection reports of Medical and Dental
Schools and Teaching Hospitals in Kenya.
The reports are
prepared jointly by teams of technical health experts from all the EAC (East
Africa Community) states and the respective National Medical and Dental
Practitioners Regulatory Councils.
How important is medical school in Kenya?
The field of
medicine is wide-ranging and offers many possibilities. This requires extensive
research in the various medical courses, requirements, colleges, and universities that they offer in Kenya.
Most courses are
offered from the certificate level, the diploma, the undergraduate degree,
the master’s, and even the doctorate.
Depending on the
subject chosen, a bachelor’s degree program can take four to six
years and often ends with a research project. Public doctors in Kenya who spend
six years at universities earn a basic salary of only $400 to $850 a month.
How Long Does It Take To Study Medicine In Kenya?
The duration of a
bachelor of medicine program in Kenya is solely dependent on the intended
university. For instance, the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of
Surgery in Kenyatta school of Medicine degree program (MBChB) is a full-time
program that takes six academic years of three trimesters each.
All the courses in the program are core and must be successfully completed by
the student before graduation.
Nonetheless, most
medical programs in Kenya spans for six academic years.
Now let’s explore
the best medical schools in Kenya available for you
Find below the top
10 medical schools at both the advanced and Diploma levels.
To point you in the right direction, the schools are described in brief and a link to the official school website is given.
Top 10 medical schools in Kenya – Advanced level (i.e. Bachelors Degree and above)
In no particular
order, the top 10 medical schools in Kenya are:
1. Kenyatta University School of Medicine
KU was one of the
first accredited medical universities and has an excellent faculty of medicine.
State of the art
training infrastructure, superb student support, and good graduation rates make
Kenyatta University Medical School a top choice.
In addition,
students enjoy practical sessions from the adjacent Kenyatta University
Teaching and Referral Hospital.
2. Moi University School of Medicine (MUSOM )
Moi University
Medical School was hived from the Faculty of Health Sciences in 2005 and has
grown in leaps and bounds to become one of the top 10 medical schools in Kenya.
Indeed, the School
later gave birth to the fast-growing School of Dentistry (SOD) and School of
Nursing (SON).
The most recent
offshoot from MUSOM is the Institute of Biomedical Informatics (IBMI).
MUSOM’s primary
teaching Hospital is the popular Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH).
3. University of Nairobi Medical School
The
deeply-experienced faculty of health at the University of Nairobi Medical
School has repeatedly won medical research awards and is among the leaders in
medical innovations in Kenya.
This, combined
with the exposure students get from Kenyatta National Referral Hospital- UoN’s
School of Medicine designated teaching hospital- makes UoN a popular
destination for surgery and dentistry students in Kenya.
Above all, they
have met all the requirements for medical training as provided by the
various authorities.
4. Kenya Methodist University School of Medicine
KEMU is one of the
few private universities in Kenya to meet the stringent requirements to offer
medical sciences.
Indeed, KEMU
offers a number of the most marketable medical courses in Kenya including the
highly competitive bachelor of medicine and surgery course.
The highlights at
KEMU is the great lecturers and a respectable collection of teaching
facilities.
In short, you’ll
be in good hands at Kenya Methodist University School of Medicine
5. Mount Kenya University School of Medicine
Overall, Mount
Kenya University (MKU) School of Medicine scores highly in all the areas under
consideration and has even beaten renowned public medical schools including
Kenya’s pioneer medical university, the University of Nairobi (UoN) in the
past.
Unsurprisingly,
MKU has grown to become Kenya’s largest private university and they don’t seem
as if they’ll be stopping any time soon.
In fact, Mount
Kenya University Medical School runs the largest anatomy laboratory at Thika
Level 5 Hospital in partnership with Kiambu county government.
6. Maseno University Medical School
Also, top
performing is Maseno University School of Medicine.
The school is
located at Siriba, next to Maseno town in Kisumu County and
has been accredited by the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board to train
health practitioners and help bridge the ever-growing demand for medical
professionals in Kenya.
Pre-clinical
teaching is conducted at the school’s ultra-modern laboratory facilities in
Siriba while clinical clerkships are tackled at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching
and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) or Kisumu County Referral Hospital.
An average of 60
medical students graduates from Maseno each year.
7. Kisii University School of Health Sciences
Also rated highly
among public medical colleges is Kisii University’s School Of Health Sciences.
Here you can
enroll for courses such as Medical Laboratory Sciences, Clinical Medicine and
Surgery, Human Nutrition, Public Health, and Nursing.
The university’s
primary focus is innovative and collaborative teaching along with vibrant
research in health-related disciplines.
8. Egerton University
Another safe bet
if you’re planning to take courses like the bachelor of medicine and surgery in
Kenya is Egerton University’s department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery.
Like its peers in
the top ten list, you access outstanding learning infrastructure, expert staff,
and a supportive training environment.
The department
continues to expand rapidly and offers a Bachelor of Science (BSc.) course In
Clinical Medicine too.
9. Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology medical school
Jomo Kenyatta
University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)’s School of Medicine has been
excelling in teaching and research in medical sciences for a couple of years
now.
The School is
hosted by the College of Health Sciences at JKUAT’s Main campus in Juja and is
well on the path to achieving its vision of becoming the best medical academic
training centre thanks to its wide network of local and global collaborators.
For example, the
school is currently partnering with KEMRI in teaching postgraduate trainees and
research.
It also runs a
medical staff exchange program with the University of Wales in Cardiff (UWIC).
It’s also worth
noting that JKUAT is considered one of the best universities to study nursing
in Kenya.
10. Uzima University Medical School
The last private
institution to make it to the list of Top 10 medical schools in Kenya is the
Catholic Church-owned Uzima University College Medical School.
Started under the
mentorship of CUEA (Catholic University of Eastern Africa), Uzima is now well
established and specializes in teaching as well as research in both Medical and
Biomedical sciences.
Two things we love
most about Uzima: The 10 world-class laboratories and an Ultramodern
Resource/learning centre.
Top 10 medical schools in Kenya – Certificate and Diploma Levels
For medical
courses at the Certificate and Diploma Levels, KMTC (Kenya Medical Training
College) is obviously the best in Kenya.
The other
top-rated colleges are:
- Equip Africa
College of Medical and Health Sciences (owned by MKU)
- Thika School
of medical and health sciences
- Kijabe
College of Health Sciences (AIC Kijabe Medical College)
- Outspan
Medical College – Nyeri
- Nyahururu
Medical Training College
- Nazareth
medical college
- Aga Khan
University Medical College
- Karen
Hospital Medical Training College
- Cicely McDonell College of Health Sciences