Mbarara University in white coat ceremony

The Mbarara university of Science and Technology has held the white coat ceremony for all students of medicine, pharmacy and clinical officers.

This, the university hopes, will help protect the medicine and pharmacy profession and to distinguish practitioners in those fields.

Students of Masters in Medicine and Surgery, Bachelor's in Pharmacy, Bachelor's of Medicine and Surgery at Mbarara University of science and technology (MUST) will now be required to take an oath and commit to the professions even before graduation.

The professor of Clinical Pharmacy Robert Tamukong said while many schools of medicine in Uganda, have not adopted the practice, it explains the rot in the health care system since the oath taken on graduation is after the students have gone through the process and nothing can be changed.

Professor Tamukong said the white coat ceremony is also used to re-echo some tough realities so that the students are mentally prepared for the journey even after school.

From medics absenting themselves from work, to stealing of drugs, negligence and other forms of poor ethics, the medical profession in Uganda has come under attack over the years, necessitating training schools to focus on the core values of the profession.

The first edition of the white coat ceremony happened in 1993 at the University of Colombia.

Since then, many universities world over have adopted the practice.