Story by Abigirl Tembo, Health Editor
ZIMBABWE is on a drive to bolster its healthcare workforce through increasing the student nurses intake.
The initiative is meant to address the critical shortage of nurses caused by brain drain and propel the country towards universal health coverage.
With a spirit of dedication and a collective eagerness to serve, the Mpilo School of Nursing welcomed a new group of student nurses.
A student nurse, Andile Mahlangu told the ZBC News, “We started training last week and am happy to be part of the intake. I have always wanted to be a nurse and I am happy that now I have been given an opportunity to become a nurse.”
Another student, Nompilo Dube weighed in saying, “I am happy to be part of this class and I can’t wait for my graduation day so that I can offer extra hands to help the sick.”
Primrose Makore explained her motivation behind nursing, “My mother has a chronic illness and I am the one who is always taking care of her, so that’s why I embarked on this nursing journey so that I can assist her and others like her.”
Mpilo School of Nursing Senior Tutor Mrs Simiso Moyo explained the impact of the programme.
“The students started on the 20th of May and currently we are supposed to have 55 students. So far, 53 have come in and we hope that with this intake we are going to have increased number of nurses because the patient demand is also increasing and we hope by training these young ones now that the age limit has been reduced and our bracket is now from 17 to 30 years and we hope that they will be effective and will assist the community and the nation at large, so that it is taken care of in an effective manner because they are still young, they are energetic. We hope that the nation can benefit from this,” she said.
According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care, a total of 565 aspiring nurses have been recruited across 19 institutions for registered general nurse training in the first intake of the year.
An additional 257 will be trained at seven primary care nursing schools, with plans underway to increase the numbers in the next intake.
