8200 students clear to sit Allied Health exams start

8200 students clear to sit Allied Health exams  start

KAMPALA.At least 8200   candidates have been registered to do the Allied Health Examinations which kick off today, the Uganda Allied Health Examination Board announced on Friday.

UAHEB executive secretary Kato Kimoga said during the briefing of invigilators and coordinators in Kampala ,that exams will run up to July 12 and will be conducted at 54 accredited centres.

“The first two weeks will be for practical papers and the remaining period will be for  theory,” he said This will be the five year the board is conducting exams where  successful candidates graduate as clinical officers, laboratory technicians, anaesthetics officers, orthopaedic officers, dental officers, public health officers, physiotherapists and pharmacists.This category forms the bulk of  frontline professionals much needed in most of the health facilities including Health Centre IIIs.

There is an increase of at least 60 candidates compared to last year, and according to Mr Kimoga ,this comprises those re-siting some  papers .

He warned candidates against any kind of exam malpractices noting that a network has been put in place to root out any form of malpractices and get perpetrators prosecuted.

“I appeal to the candidates not to attempt to cheat these exams and whoever is caught will be dealt with accordingly. And even our invigilators are expected to follow the guidelines as outlined and breaching any of them without my clearance will tantamount to cheating,”  Mr Kimoga A total of 150 invigilators and 36 supervisors have been deployed to man the exams .

He also cautioned unlicensed schools against soliciting money from students for examinations, saying the proprietors risk being prosecuted. “Some institutions or centres have a habit of  extorting  money from students claiming that they are accredited by the examinations body. We are tired of such cases and this time, the law will have to take its course,” he said.

Established in 2009, UAHEB is mandated to administer, examine and award qualifications to registered candidates in allied health programmes. The Board is responsible for 21 allied health programmes and administers over 250 examination papers.

Last year, of the 2,913 candidates who sat for the June-July exams, 2,656 passed-representing 91per cent pass rate. A total of 257 (9 per cent) failed failed the papers and were required to re-sit the papers.

 In comparison, few candidates failed the exams last year compared to 525 (17.9 per cent) who did the same exams and failed in 2012 .

In the previous two years, poor performance has always been registered in Public Health Dentistry, Environmental Health Sciences, Medical Radiography and Physiotherapy while an improvement in performance is recorded in Occupational Therapy and Laboratory Technology.