This archive report was first published on 10 May 2020.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, it has become clear that Kenya's health training institutions were slow to respond to the crisis.
With the government's directives to control the pandemic, all educational institutions were closed for several weeks, leaving many students and staff wondering when normal learning would resume.
However, some schools and universities found innovative ways to continue with studies using digital media, such as video-conferencing classrooms and text message-based discussions.
But despite these efforts, health training institutions were largely inactive, with students being sent home and facilities being used as quarantine centers.
This inactivity is puzzling, especially considering the critical role that health professionals play in responding to emergencies.
Medical training prepares graduates to handle all sorts of medical emergencies, and the hierarchy of interventions moves from saving life, then limb and function, before aesthetics.
Unfortunately, the pandemic has presented an opportunity for medics to not only learn about managing a new disease but also to provide sorely needed services at our health institutions.
It is time for academics working at these health training institutions to take the lead in advising the government on what needs to be done, while continuing to teach and conduct research on this new scourge.
Designating specified COVID-19 treatment centers and allowing regular services with adequate protections to resume at other facilities is a crucial step in keeping the human resource for health pipeline open.
As Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Moi University School of Medicine, I believe that reopening at least some of the health training institutions is essential to keep the pipeline open.
