Online Reporter
Tendai Gukutikwa
Health Reporter
THE Ministry of Health and Child Care has revealed that Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital (VCPH) is set to become a centre of excellence for training medical students, following plans for a partnership with Africa University which recently established a Health Sciences Department.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of a tour of the provincial referral hospital, Health and Child Care Minister, Dr Douglas Mombeshora, said discussions are already underway to ensure that students from the university will be trained at the hospital under world-class conditions.
He said as discussions continue, the partnership is expected to be a landmark development in Zimbabwe’s medical education landscape, strengthening, not only VCPH’s role in the health sector, but also Africa University’s ambition to grow as a leader in health sciences.
“Government is currently exploring a partnership between VCPH and Africa University, which recently established a Health Sciences Department to train medical students. We want those students to be trained in a state-of-the-art hospital so that the quality of medical graduates is high. We also want to make sure that laboratory and diagnostic services are up to standard so that we do not end up training substandard medical students,” he said.
He explained that the vision is for the provincial hospital to play a dual role of, not only treating patients, but also producing highly skilled health professionals who will serve the country and region.
“Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital must, not only treat patients, but also serve as a centre for training health professionals at the highest level. With Africa University nearby, we are already discussing partnerships to train medical students here so that their learning environment matches the standards we expect from our future doctors,” said Dr Mombeshora.
He stressed that Government is committed to ensure that training facilities keep pace with the evolving demands of modern medicine.
He said partnerships such as the one being forged with Africa University will help Zimbabwe close the gap in medical education and ultimately improve the health sector’s service delivery.
He noted that while Africa University is a private institution, the collaboration will benefit the nation at large by producing more competent medical practitioners.
“AU now has a Health Science Department and they want to partner with VCPH so that they will train them here. We want them to be trained at a state-of-the-art hospital so that the medical student products will be of high quality, a reason why we want to upgrade this hospital into a top quality hospital that trains top quality students,” he said.
Dr Mombeshora said the collaboration will also extend beyond medical students, with efforts being made to boost nurse training and broaden the scope of health cadres trained at the institution.
“We are also looking at the future in terms of training. We want to increase the number of trainee nurses who are being enrolled here. Currently, I understand there are only two intakes instead of three intakes which other training institutions are taking. We are only training registered general nurses, no nurse specialists, but we want to see if we can increase the intake of the registered general nurses, plus specialist training of nurses. We obviously also want to increase their capacity in terms of training other cadres,” he said.
According to the Minister, the expansion of training opportunities at VCPH is expected to strengthen the hospital’s role as a referral centre for Manicaland and beyond.
It will also ensure that the country produces health professionals equipped with practical skills to address pressing medical challenges.
“This is about looking ahead to the future of our health system. If we strengthen training today, we will secure better service delivery tomorrow. We want to build confidence that those who graduate here are, not just qualified on paper, but competent in practice,” he added.
The Government’s vision, Dr Mombeshora said, is to integrate academic learning with practical hospital exposure, a model that has proven effective in producing high-quality medical professionals globally. The initiative of combining the strengths of Africa University’s academic programmes with VCPH’s clinical setting, is expected to significantly improve health education outcomes.
Dr Mombeshora’s tour of the hospital also focused on assessing current capacity in laboratories, diagnostics, and training facilities. He stressed the need for continued investment in infrastructure and equipment to ensure the hospital’s readiness to host medical students in large numbers.
“We want to make sure that the laboratory services and the diagnostic services are up to standard so that we do not train substandard medical students,” he reiterated.
