Charge D’Affaires at the
Embassy of the Republic of Zambia in Washington DC, Mr. Ben Ben Kangwa recently
called on Zambian medical doctors in the diaspora to reverse the trend in the
medical field of what he called “brain drain” to that of “brain gain”
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Doctors Yusuf
Patel, Jacob George and Arvind Bhakta
who graduated at
UNZA School of Medicine in 1974
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Officiating at the re-union
on 70 medical doctors, who graduated from the University of Zambia (UNZA) in the
late 60s to the early 80s and are based in the United States, Mr. Kangwa
commended the doctors for their interest in supporting UNZA through donations
of medical books and medical journals.
The doctors had gathered at Marriot Hotel in
Washington DC for two days from 6th – 8th October, 2012 to
strategize on how they could further collaborate with the University of Zambia
Mr. Kangwa urged the doctors to further their support through
visiting lecture programs where doctors can impart their knowledge at the
medical institution
“You could also promote
student exchange visits as part of elective courses where students from the US
are exposed to the methods of medical practice in Zambia,” Mr. Kangwa added.
He observed that such
programs are usually inhibited by lack of sponsorship but encouraged the
doctors to support the initiative.
Mr. Kangwa also called on
the doctors to consider visiting professional medical teams or camps to Zambia
with a focus on specific areas of need as identified by the experts on the ground.
The Charge D’Affaires
further called for support to research collaboration, tele-medicine
development, professional exchange programs, joint medical professional
organization and technical support to the Zambian Ministry of Health towards
systems and programs service improvement
The gathering
also included a former lecturer Dr. David Levitt who also pledged to fundraise for the school and
provide resources including books, computers and human resource.
Meanwhile,
the Chairperson of the Friends of the University of Zambia (UNZA) Dr. Rukhsana
Rahman said the students have over the years been raising funds as individuals
and smaller groups but would now like to cast the net wide get many people to
invest resources into the university.
“We realize that UNZA
Ridgway campus is in need of support and what better way for us to unite and
pool resources to help restore the school” Dr. Rahman said.
“The school is in need of
journals for the medical students as well as computers and other training
tools” she added.
And the Health Professions
Council of Zambia Registrar Dr Mary Zulu says the UNZA school of medicine faces
many challenges today as they is need
for increased infrastructure, and teaching staff.
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Dr. Mary Zulu,
was Biochemistry Professor at UNZA
and is currently
Registrar for Health Professions Council
of Zambia with
Charge D'Affaires at the Embassy of the
Republic of
Zambia in Washington DC, Mr. Ben Kangwa.
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Dr Zulu who was a guest speaker
at the friend of UNZA reunion revealed that although the school was offering
more programs there was shortage on the establishment.
“Out of the 257 lecturers in
the establishment, 71 were full time, out of these there only 8 full professors
and 3 associate professors leaving the school with a deficit of 186 lecturers.”
Dr Zulu said.
She said the school still
required increased bed space saying the current space was meant for 571 beds
when there were now 1673 students.
Dr Zulu observed that the
country had made many strides in introducing more specialized programs
including masters programs in science and nursing.
She said the establishment
of degree programs at private universities would also help cushion the deficit
of medical personal.
The friend of UNZA included
Dr. David Levitt, Lecturer at the University of Zambia Medical School, who got
a standing ovation for his outstanding service to the school of medicine.
And Dr. Arvind Bhakta who
was in the class of 1974 the first graduates at UNZA, said with team work all
is possible saying that a few doctors formed a golf fundraising dubbed the
‘Mosi golf fundraiser” that raised monies towards projects in Zambia including
UNZA.
Dr BHAKTA said the
fundraising gold tournament raised over US$10,000 dollars’ worth of books for
UNZA.
He added that the tournament
was held over 14 year period in various cities including, Florida, Oklahoma,
Nashville, Los angles and Toronto, Canada.
The friends of UNZA also
observed a minute of silence for the former First lady Mrs. Betty Kaunda who
passed away a few weeks ago.
The event was characterized
my nostalgic experiences by the doctors who were at the school of medicine in
the 1970s through to the 1980s.
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