A Bulawayo woman who founded two nursing training institutions in Windhoek, Namibia, has retraced her steps to her hometown where she has set up her third training school.
Rutendo Zvidza, from Nkulumane, relocated to Namibia in 2013 to work as a nurse and as her desire to offer patients quality health care increased, she established two PMT Healthcare Institute training schools in that country.
True to her word, Zvidza has launched her third training centre at Number 3 Clark Road Suburbs in Bulawayo, after having indicated that she intended to create a nursing school in the city, as a way of repaying her achievement in life.
“I am forever grateful to the Lord Almighty for blessing me to make this dream unfold. The Bulawayo school will impart skills development courses and offer the following courses Health Caregiver/ Nurse Aid course and Pharmacy Sales Assistants course,” she said, adding more courses will be introduced at a later stage.
She first founded the nursing school in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital city, then opened another training centre in Rundu, the second largest city, located in the heart of the Kavango region in northeastern Namibia.
The Windhoek school expects graduates this year after the first cohort of students enrolled in January 2021 for a Diploma in Nursing Science and Midwifery,
In Bulawayo, the first intake is scheduled for March 20, 2023, and the new training institution is completely accredited.
“Seeing that the nurse aid course has become more popular, we have classes that can accommodate 30 students per session. Per day we will have two sessions for different groups. Each intake will accommodate not more than 60 students but attending on different scheduled sessions.”
Zvidza noted she made sure to hire competent registered nurses who will give quality teaching, with the goal of improving Zimbabwe’s and the world’s health care delivery systems.
“Our aim is to produce health workers who, no matter where they are, provide quality health care and show professionalism,” she said.
All attachments will be provided by the Health Training Centres, as nurses will be deployed to various healthcare facilities around Zimbabwe.
“The attachment will include six weeks on health facilities and two weeks of clinical evaluations and assessment before final completion,” Zvidza said.
Knowing the economic challenges that some face, Zvidza stated the training school will provide transportation for its students from the Central Business District to Suburbs and back to the city centre after classes.
“Uniforms and training materials will be supplied by the school at no cost,” she added.
According to Zvidza, the health training centre also offers outstanding classrooms with projection screens for simple learning, as well as an equipped practical area with all essential equipment for training and practice purposes.
Computer training will also be introduced for all students, with the inclusion of hospital programmes for all students, in order for them to be better equipped in terms of computer literacy.
“Plus the centre has a big yard for students to sit and study throughout the day,” she said on a lighter note.
