Zimbabwe October 2006 |
|
| Lecturers’ shortage hits medical school, (The Herald, 2006-10-23):-A critical shortage of health science lecturers has hit the Zimbabwe School of Medicine following the exodus of staff to neighbouring countries where they are seeking greener pastures. In an interview on the sidelines of a donation of 36 boxes of medical books by Black American Friends of Zimbabwe, University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor Professor Levi Nyagura said the school had a shortfall of 197 lecturers. He said the school was functioning with only 127 lecturers. "At the moment we have about 127 lecturers and they cannot cope with the workload. We are being assisted by private practitioners but we would want the college to have lecturers that are readily available," Prof Nyagura said. He said the pre-clinical level that is undergone by the medical students in the first two years, was the worst affected yet it is the most critical stage where students study physiology and anatomy. "At this early stage the students are provided with the foundation for the understanding of the human body at micro level in terms of body cells and food processes," he said. Prof Nyagura also said the clinical studies level where the students undergo detailed theoretical and practical learning of the human body also needs urgent attention. "The college of health sciences had two years ago improved but the situation started deteriorating again. "The vacancy rate which was pegged at 48 percent in 2004 rose to 60 percent. We need the rate to be around 85 percent to ensure the smooth running of the college," Prof Nyagura said. He attributed the loss of human resources to poor remuneration, adding that medical lecturers got a basic-salary ranging from $90 000 to $115 000 per month. "We are negotiating with the Government to see if they could help improve the salaries so that our efforts to retain the staff becomes practical. "We as the university are making inroads to help attract more lecturers," he said. The medical school in Harare, he said, enrols an average of 200 students a year while its Bulawayo branch housed at the National University of Science and Technology enrols around 20 students. "We take the cream of the country with points not less than 14 in science subjects. "These undergo studies ranging from dentistry, surgery, medical laboratory sciences and medicine," Prof Nyagura said. The donation of books worth more than $20 million came after Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa had requested for assistance to help boost the quality of medical training in the country. "We told them we needed more books for the medical school as it was our wish to see that the quality of doctors churned out from here continued to be of high quality," he said. Dr Parirenyatwa said his ministry welcomed all stakeholders who genuinely needed to build partnerships in the development of the health sector. Although Zimbabwe continues to commit more resources in the training of health professionals, brain drain was negatively affecting the country's health delivery system. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |