The Makerere University college of Health Sciences launched a centennial exhibition to run from December 8, 2025 to January 16, 2026, at the Sir Albert Cook Medical Library in Mulago, Kampala on December 8, 2025.
The exhibition will run on weekdays, from 9 am to 4:30 pm. The exhibition showcases the history and heritage of the library, modern medicine in Uganda and the college as the first modern medical school in Uganda.
It also has several handwritten patient/case records, notes, personal letters and reports made by Cook as early as 1900, and rare documents, photos and memorabilia from those early founding years.
There are also photos and works of other individuals that have made valuable contributions to the library and the college, especially those faculty who persevered during the years of turmoil in the 1970s and 1980s.
Plus research outputs and innovations, and equipment formerly used in training and service delivery. Prof David Meya, chairman of the Centennial Organising Committee, said the exhibition is part of the ongoing activities marking a century of the college of Health Sciences of Makerere University.
Under the theme, ‘Celebrating a century of excellence, shaping the future’, the activities started in July 2024 with a dialogue on health-professions training that included all medical schools in Uganda and the National Council for Higher Education, and will climax on March 6, 2026, with a dinner at Mulago hill.
Other key activities include fundraising for the expansion and refurbishment of Davies lecture theatre, the flagship lecture space of the college; construction of a centenary monument at the college; a student-led run; and a public lecture by a 90-year-old alumnus; and a science fair organized by the Infectious Diseases Institute.
Meya said the centennial activities are aimed at reaching the alumni and former faculty, and increasing their engagement and organisation, leading to benefits like training opportunities, scholarships and infrastructure for either party.
Popularly known as the father of modern medicine in Uganda, Albert Cook founded Mengo hospital in 1897 and the Sir Albert Cook Medical Library in 1924, where medical lessons were conducted.
Prof Alison Kinengyere, the college librarian, underscored the library’s assistive role in teaching and research, on top of its century of excellence and great impact on Uganda’s health sector.
Prof Richard Idro, deputy principal of the college of Health Sciences, said the 100-year-old college does not only engage in training undergraduate and postgraduate students and carry out research; it also trains specialists and leaders for the ministry of Health, local governments and research institutions.
Idro said the expansion and refurbishment of Davies lecture theatre will enable it to accommodate more students and acquire modern facilities such as backup power, acoustics and digital telemedia, is estimated at Shs 700 million.
The lecture theatre’s maximum capacity is 200; this will be raised to 500. He added that the college has a consolidated Rehabilitation and Renovation project that will start with construction of a biomedical block complex, a teaching hospital and a medical museum, and increment of enrolment, among others.
“The demand for admission is very high. Currently, we admit 150 medical, 50 nursing and 50 pharmacy students annually, yet we could double these numbers if we had sufficient facilities,” Idro said.
The launch function raised Shs 8 million in cash from auctioning an aerial photo of the college.
Donations for the lecture theatre or other development plans can be sent to Stanbic bank, account No. 9030005655047 (UGX), or 9030008068061 (USD), in the name: Makerere University College of Health Sciences Research. Alternatively, to Dr Patience Muwanguzi on 0778697335, clearly indicating the reason as ‘DLT’ or ‘Centennial’.
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