HEALTH AND MEDICINE — GENERAL 509 



Students from Kenya entered the school, which in Uganda is 

 regarded as one of the most important organs of the department 

 in its endeavour to improve the health of Africans. The training 

 of medical attendants started at Mulago Hospital in 191 3, and 

 during the Great War the best of them formed the nucleus of the 

 African Medical Corps. All training was suspended during the 

 war, but in 191 9 the institution of a government medical school 

 was first suggested, when it was recognized that there was need 

 for two classes of personnel: first those with medical qualifications 

 who would eventually replace the Indian sub-assistant surgeons, 

 and secondly attendants for purely nursing duties. Meanwhile, 

 Makerere College was inaugurated in 1920, and advanced medical 

 training began in 1923 with the appointment of Dr. H. B. Owen 

 as medical tutor. The original course was of four years' duration, 

 but in 1927 was extended to five years, and in 1936 to six. The 

 syllabus approximates to that of London University, but naturally 

 at present the standard of knowledge required, is not as high as 

 that in a British university. In 1928 the medical school building 

 was completed, and eight lecturers from the medical officers at 

 Mulago were appointed. Students reside at Makerere for the first 

 three years and then move to Mulago. Each year four or five stu- 

 dents qualify, and the total number amounted to twenty-nine by 

 the end of 1935. After qualification the medical assistants work in 

 Mulago Hospital for a year, during which they act as house physi- 

 cians or house surgeons, before proceeding to other parts of the 

 Protectorate where they are slowly replacing the Asiatic sub-assis- 

 tant surgeons. A system of registration was started in 1931. 



In South Africa there are medical schools at the universities for 

 training European doctors, but until very recently there were no 

 training facilities for natives, with the result that the medical 

 services in native areas have left much to be desired. The report of 

 the Committee to inquire into the training of natives in medicine 

 and public health (Union of South Africa 1928) made a number of 

 important recommendations; among others, that facilities should 

 be provided at the University of Witwatersrand, in a non-European 

 branch of the existing medical school, for natives who should re- 

 ceive exactly the same training as Europeans, a pre-medical year 

 to be spent at the South African Native College; native students 



