Kampala — THE newly created Makerere University College of Health Sciences is to strengthen its ties with the community so as to become relevant to society, the principal, Prof. Nelson Ssewankambo, has said.

He noted that the university needed to build strong ties with the people so as to dispel the belief that the institution is detached from life. "We have been accused of being selfish and detached from the community because at times, our educational and research programmes are not relevant to issues that affect the population," Ssewankambo said.

"We owe the people alot. We will work with them to bring about the desired change." He was speaking while receiving a new 62-seater Isuzu bus for the Strengthening Curriculum Innovations Project.

The project is supported by the National Council for Science and Technology. Ssewankambo thanked the Millennium Science Initiative that donated the vehicle for facilitating the transportation of students to interact with the communities.

He disclosed that the students pursuing masters degrees in public health were spending 75% of their time every academic year to do community- based education and service training.

The college will officially be launched on August 28 and will from then on cease to be called the Faculty of Medicine.