THE Parliamentary Committee on Education, Culture, and Sports has commenced the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science (MUHAS) for constructing a centre for cardiovascular diseases to enable patients get access to treatment within the country instead of travelling abroad.

The Committee also asked the MUHAS and the government to continue ensuring that various projects are completed in time to enable medical doctors to conduct various researches.

Speaking recently during the inspection of an ongoing construction of the MUHAS cardiovascular centre at Mloganzila in Kibaha, Coast Region, Committee Chairperson Prof Kitila Mkumbo emphasized the importance close supervision of the project which is expected to treat more patients.

He added that the committee will work hand in hand with the government to ensure that funds are available to finance the project, costing 650bn/-.

"The committee will keep on pushing the government to allocate more funds to complete the project so as to serve more patients," he added.

On his part, Minister for Education, Science, and Technology, Professor Adolf Mkenda, insisted on collaboration between the MUHAS and the government, saying once completed it would be serve as international centre for cardiovascular diseases treatment.

Earlier, MUHAS Vice Principal Prof Andrea Pembe said currently the college has 112 diploma programmes with 4,425 students compared to past when the college had one programme with only 10 students.

He added that the centre will also train more health professionals in three fields, including prevention and treatment of diseases related to blood vessels as well as about how to provide rehabilitation services