Thirty-three primary care trainee nurses at Nkai District Hospital have been transferred to other nursing schools in Masvingo and Manicaland provinces following the temporary closure of the institution, disrupting lectures following the arrest of two teachers on corruption charges.
The nursing school was closed two weeks ago and the affected students were sent to Silveria Nursing School in Masvingo and Mutambara Nursing School in Manicaland to continue their studies.
The school’s closure angered local residents. The local community said the closure of the district hospital’s nursing school would affect healthcare delivery services as students played a crucial role in the hospital.
According to a letter written by Dr. Hiron Dube, the Nkayi District Medical Officer, which was in the possession of the Chronicle, the students were notified. Training school closed.
“Following the letter dated 16 January 2024 from the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the student nurse (name withheld) has been released from Nkai School of Nursing with effect from 20 January 2024 to continue her primary care nursing training at Mutambara School of Nursing. With effect from 23 January 2024, read Letter written to one of the affected students.
Dr. Dube said the arrest of the two teachers and their subsequent appearance in court left the students stranded without classes for several days.
“Ideally, a training school should have four teachers to run efficiently, but we had two private teachers who had a case pending before the courts and a decision was reached to deploy the students elsewhere so they could finish their courses and continue their lives,” he said.
“We have a challenge in securing private teachers because they are leaving the ministry in large numbers and it is difficult to replace them. That is why the training school operates with only two teachers.
Dr Dubey said they hope to recruit another batch of students for the intake of May 2024. “These nurses learn and train for the nation and are deployed to any part of the country when they complete their courses. This is why it is important that the students continue their studies elsewhere because they are an integral part of The health care system of the entire country.
The teachers, identified as Ms Miriam Rimbe Reda and Ms Tabeth Ncube, are scheduled to appear before a regional magistrate in Bulawayo. Their case was transferred from the Nkayi Magistrate’s Courts.
In a letter addressed to the regional medical directors of Matabeleland North, Manicaland and Masvingo provinces, Ministry of Health and Child Care Permanent Secretary Dr Aspect Munganidze said the affected students would be deployed to Silveria and Mutambara Nursing Schools.
“Nurse teachers at Nkayi District Hospital are undergoing court hearings in Bulawayo following corruption allegations. This has resulted in 33 students being left unattended and without lessons as there is no teaching staff at the institution to continue the educational lessons.
“The 33 Primary Care Nursing (PCN) students consisted of 23 students who began training on 16 January 2023 and completed Unit 2 training and took their exams. Their completion date was 2 February 2025.
“PCN students started training on 1 May 2023 and the completion date was supposed to be 27 April 2025. They failed and were grouped back into the May 2023 group in Group 2. Recruitments were not conducted in May 2023 and hence there were no PCN group at school for them to join.
Dr Munganidze recommended that the 23 students be deployed to Silveria School of Nursing and Revision for four weeks to enable them to sit their Unit 2 exams while the 10 students be deployed to Mutambara School of Nursing to begin Unit 2.
“Based on the above background, transfers should be accelerated,” part of the letter read.
The Chronicle news staff spoke to one of the affected students on Tuesday who said they were upset by the move.
“We were given only five days to pack our bags and travel to Masvingo or Manicaland at our own expense, which is unfair because it is not our fault that the school is closed here. Teachers accused of corruption are known to demand bribes from students to hire them, but their bosses have been turning a blind eye all this time,” the student said. .
“If many of them (student nurses) leave for other provinces, we will suffer because we will spend several hours in queues before they are taken care of,” said Ms. Rijois Mathe from Nkoba village. “We also want our children to train here and become nurses, but how will this happen when there are “The school is closed. We urge the government to consider the issue of reopening the school.” Event Record
