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Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
In 2015, the Midlands State University (MSU) decided to introduce medical studies as part of its plans to broaden the scope of its degree programmes.

It subsequently established the Faculty of Medicine and the medical school at Gweru Provincial Hospital (GPH).

This has seen the university receiving a lot of support which has not only benefited the institution, but the City of Gweru, where it is based, as a whole.

The establishment of the medical school at Gweru Provincial Hospital (GPH) has attracted more clinical specialists to the city, which has seen patients from Midlands and Masvingo who used to be referred for specialist treatment to Harare or Bulawayo saving on time and money since the services are now within reach.

In a recent interview, MSU director public relations Ms Mirirai Mawere said the MSU Faculty of Medicine was using GPH as its teaching hospital for the clinical years which start in the third year.

She said the inaugural group of students is now in its foutth year of the five-year MBChB programme which was inaugurated in 2015.

“The university now has specialists in various clinical disciplines including internal medicine (physicians), general surgery, orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry, anaesthesia and community medicine, among others,” she said.

The university also has over 30 staff development fellows being trained in various specialties.

In addition to using GPH as a teaching hospital, the university has a vision to one day constructing a teaching hospital of its own.

Ms Mawere said the facilities and support from GPH were adequate and the teaching hospital had been approved by the Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Council of Zimbabwe.

“In fact, many people in the Midlands Province and nearby provinces like Masvingo no longer have to be referred to Harare or Bulawayo for specialist care,” she said. “The university is also now making its modest contribution towards the training of medical doctors in Zimbabwe.”

Ms Mawere said in addition to medical students, GPH has also been training junior doctors commonly referred to as junior resident medical officers (JRMOs) in medicine and surgery.

“Because of the presence of additional medical specialists, the Medical Council has just authorised GPH Provincial Hospital to host training for senior doctors called senior resident medical officers (SRMOs) in obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics and anaesthesia,” she said.

Ms Mawere said prior to its inauguration, state-of-the-art laboratories for anatomy, biochemistry, physiology and histology were constructed to the satisfaction of the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences (UZCHS) and the Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Council of Zimbabwe.

She said the first intake of 20 students was in February 2016.

Ms Mawere said the students use the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB, ChB) curriculum and the first cohorts would be offered UZ degrees when they completed their training.

“We have a dedicated modern medical library that can seat 68 students and which has hard copies and electronic copies of medical textbooks and journals,” she said. “We have an excellent facility for eLearning and the students can also access the medical library electronically even when they are off campus.”

The teaching venues have modern teaching equipment which includes an interactive board (i-board) and an electronic board (e-board) and the laboratories also have modern equipment

“One of our fourth-year medical students, Miss Lynette Ndlovu, was elected the president of the continental Federation of African Medical Students Associations (FAMSA),” said Ms Mawere. “She’s the first female from Southern Africa to become president of FAMSA.

“At the recent annual general meeting of the national Zimbabwe Medical Students’ Association (ZIMSA), which consists of students from UZ, NUST and MSU, MSU students were elected into six of the 12 ZIMSA executive posts. The ZIMSA president is MSU third-year student, Mr Dennis Maramwidze.”

GPH medical superintendent Dr Fabian Mashingaidze said the setting up of the MSU Medical School had seen a rise in specialists doctors at the hospital.

“We now have more specialist doctors, meaning our patients have more medical doctors attending to them and no longer need to travel to Harare or Bulawayo for specialists,” he said. “The school is contributing in the training of doctors, which is a plus for the  country.”

Dr Mashingaidze said the Government had availed $1 million of the $5 million aimed at upgrading the medical school.