An East African safari

Extract

To have been external examiner for the Masters Degree in Psychiatry (M Med) of the University of Nairobi for the last three years was an unusually stimulating opportunity, not only for a ‘busman's holiday’ (as my registrar called it) and a ‘good enough’ reason for a return to Africa, but it also enabled me to contribute again to training East African psychiatrists – a task which I first undertook in 1972 when a lecturer at Makerere University in Uganda. Because of the civil wars in Uganda, however, the Department of Psychiatry in neighbouring Kenya has now flourished and become one of the most substantial Departments in Central and Southern Africa. The Department, which includes one ‘full’ professor, two associate professors, four lecturers, two tutorial fellows, will soon have its own teaching in Kenyatta National Hospital as well as accommodation at the Mathari Mental Hospital, made famous by the pioneer observations of Carothers. In addition to its commitment to postgraduate training the Department provides three months teaching for other doctors taking an M Med in Medicine and Paediatrics and also teaches 150 medical students each year.