The Health Professions Council of Zambia has withdrawn the approval certificates for some health related programmes which are approved and recognized by the Council being offered at Lusaka Apex Medical University in Lusaka and Cavendish University.
The withdrawal follows serious violations which were discovered at the last monitoring compliance which was conducted on 17th October 2017 after which HPCZ wrote to the affected institutions to address the violations but that the last inspection conducted on 21st may 2018 still revealed serious violations than those discovered earlier.
Council Registrar, Dr. Aaron Mujajati told a media briefing on Sunday that for Apex University, the programmes withdrawn are Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and Bachelor of Science In Radiography on grounds that the Dean does not have a post graduate qualification and the school having 740 students against 5 Full Time Lecturers, four of whom do not quality to teach among other reasons.
“The Health Professions wishes to inform the general public, stakeholders and students about the withdrawal of approval certificates for training programmes which are offered by Lusaka Apex Medical University. We have withdrawn two programmes at Lusaka Apex Medical University namely; Bachelor of Science and Pharmacy and Bachelor of Science and Radiography,” Dr Mujajati said.
For Cavendish University, the Certificates withdrawn are for Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Sciences in Clinical Sciences on grounds that some teaching staff do not have HPCZ practicing certificates, while the University has no policy on Occupational Health and Safety and does not have laboratories at the campus among other reasons.
“We have withdrawn three programmes from Cavendish University namely; MBCHP which is Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery which is a qualification which people obtain to become doctors. We have also withdrawn the Bachelor of Science and Chemical medicine and Bachelor of Science in Public Health,” he said.
“A bit of the background is that before these programmes were withdrawn, the Health Professions Council last year did conduct compliance monitoring exercise in these facilities or in these training institutions. And at that time, these major violations were actually found the training institutions were given an opportunity to address those violations. And they were given adequate time to deal with the violations that were found then and the inspection at that time was done in October last year. And the schools were informed that at a given date, the council come back to check if they had addressed these problems. Unfortunately the ongoing compliance inspection unearthed that the schools did not do much to address these problems.”
He said that the two institutions failed to meet compliance levels in the withdrawn programmes despite being given enough time to do so.
“Some of the problems if you take Lusaka Apex Medical University like the programme under Pharmacy, you will find that the dean does not have post graduate qualifications which is against the standards of the council. The Coordinator of the course does not have the required five years teaching experience. The Institution has over enrolled students up to 740 students against five full time lecturers, four of which are not qualified to teach Pharmacy. And they have inadequate sitting capacity in the Library, inadequate prescribed and recommended books, no clinical instructors available for the students and the laboratory does not meet the required standards. It’s the same if not similar picture with the programme under Bachelor of Science in radiography. The major problem there is that the Dean is part time and his qualifications are unknown. And there is only one full time lecturer,” said Dr Mujajati.
At the same briefing, HPCZ Legal Counsel Frank Lungu has indicated that the Council will take legal action against Cavendish and Lusaka Apex Medical Universities.
Well done, especially for following through with the clampdown. My prayer is that no external, overarching hand reverses this march to sanity as it were. Hopefully we can continue to bring order in many more of our mushrooming educational and training institutions with the same diligence.
This is surprising and shocking considering that the board of APEX consists of some eminent medical professionals in the country. It is an inexusable offence which deserves no sympathy. An enrolement of 700+ students at the fees charged who have been enough to deal with the issues raised. But like the zambian way, money started getting into the pockets leaving the poor students stranded. IAM SHOCKED.
WANYAMA Academia is a rough field, a medical doctor is considered a bachelor’s degree holder unless he’s specialized in which case he’s considered a master’s degree holder. They can only be considered as doctorates in academia after the complete the MD-PhD (basically PhD in medicine) program typically takes 8 to 10 years. So even if you have eminent medical professionals at the institution, they fall short according to the standards so long they don’t have these qualifications. And the worrying thing is that they were apparently warned about the same. It’s indeed a sad situation for the benign students, especially those in seniour years.
now what will happen to us students who are already doing these programs? does it mean that we will be recommended to other universities?
my question too.
which university accepts grade 12 failures?
which university are qualified for health programs and how can we identify them
i
@3 UNZA is qualified and the CBU is too!!
Cavendish University the council must also assess programs in other faculties. Humanity programs at this institute are also so questionable. Most lectures are not qualified. Instead of lecturing they are busy having sex with female students either married or not and in exchange with very good results. I know of one lady who was coming from the copperbelt and was having sex with a well know Law lecturer in exchanging with good results. This was not the only woman but many more. The advise with the council is that let them build infrastructure and employee qualified lecturers for existing photo copy and upcoming Universities. As a remedy action close all these private universities. Evaluate all programs and infrastructure before approval. Close down Cavedish.
@ Wisdom Chikoti
Which university in the world can accept people with 56points at grade 12 to do medicine? Well done HPCZ
The appointment of a qualified health practitioner to fill the vacancy of Dean is simple and straight forward. It is regrettable that appointing authorities overlooked such a key element in hiring competent managers. In transition, an ill-qualified but trusted colleague could serve as caretaker Interim Dean. That issue needed to be addressed. The key concept is ‘interim’. Alternatively, a qualified colleague could serve as Acting Dean pending the appointment of the most suitable person among candidates. Here again, the funding of scholarship could go a long way in creating financial stability in the privet HEIs. In future, QA system need to reckon with the need to safeguard, promote and strengthen private investment in the health sector. It seems that the channels of communication were…
Here again, the funding of scholarship could go a long way in creating financial stability in the privet HEIs. In future, QA system need to reckon with the need to safeguard, promote and strengthen private investment in the health sector. It seems that the channels of communication were dysfunctional. It is unlikely that remedial actions were rejected by private investors in the health sector.
In the first place they SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN OPENED without adequate due diligence!! We should not reach a situation where we get graduates who cannot even stick together a single paragraph in English, our official language or a medical doctor who hardly understands basic human biology and other basic related foundation basics for a medical doctor! PLEASE CLOSE THEM AND LET ONLY SERIOUS UNIVERSITIES OPERATE!!
The Health Professions Council of Zambia no authority to supervise the Universities operating in Zambia. Their role is to approval certificates for health-related programmes.
Universities fall under the Ministry of Education which is supposed to have a dept. to deal with accreditations of private learning institutions.
I have no problem with rules being followed but in my opinion, it is time the country sets up an accreditation body to monitor the running of these institutions. In the end, its students and parents suffering from spending so much money on fees.
Problem is that we register,, colleges before they meet the Standards..Standards first not last….what an inconvenience to peoples budgets…
Good job but the problem is that some of the graduates are already working with good positions.Higher Education Authority is too quiet it should close most of these photocopy universities.
Dizmo boi paipa pano
Kutampafye
Most of these private universities or colleges in zambia cannot even qualify to be primary schools elsewhere. Even from government universities only Unza and cbu are up to standard. Mulungushi university and nkrumah university are just as good as high schools.
Hh can teach here!
I think HH can teach you good….Biology 101. The anatomy of you.
Drawing of certificates from affected universities is not enough but they should also prosecuted in the court of law for giving false information to their clients – students.
Why did u register the two universities if they never met the required standard ? What is the fate of the students who have already spent so much ? Will they be taken over by CBU and UNZA or what ? As stakeholders in this matter, we want a comprehensive press statement from Cavendish and APEX universities.
RICH KIDS UNIVERSITIES WITH POOR CALIBER OF LECTURERS
I don’t know if all requirements and standards are observed at state universities in Zambia…
Traditional university should have minimum doctor degree for a lectures, masters (in process of doctoral candidates) may do some exercises for students, and secondly: an institution of third level of education that would like to be called university must have at least 5 different faculties eg. Medicine or Mathematics, Law or Linguistics, Philosophy or Education, Theology, or any other combination of full faculties…
To have Faculty the didactic personnel
has to have ACADEMIC qualifications!!!
If the school has courses in different professions is called Institute, eg. Technical Institute, Mines Institute, NEVER UNIVERSITY!!!
If a school has different courses in one faculty only it is…
mmmmmm too bad,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,reach kids with unqualified lecturers
Comment:too bad for apex students. hop this exercise will Continue even to the colleges or universities of education
Hi Concerned universities. Are you going to recall the degrees which are already on the market, l mean your ex students? Can you please employ learned people and not people that have connections with you. it’s not good. There are a lot of qualified people in the streets who you should employ. all the degrees from your universities may be questionable
Thats why i Joined Texila American University !!!!!!!!!!What a fantastic University with Qualified Lectureres from India.
“Private actors who take money from consumers and then go on to deprive consumers of their goods and services must be held accountable.” A general discussion would be acceptable. What about plots that took 10 years to release titles for mortgage? These issues are critical for law and order. The rule of law requires transparency and accountability. Remember that private sector is by definition more innovative that public sector. In private sector government revenue is not wasted. Rather, the private sector generates public revenue while at the same time providing a service to the consumer client. There is no obligation to enter into particular HEIs to pursue career preparations through degree programs. It is all about free enterprise where private and public investments must compete in…
There is no obligation to enter into particular HEIs to pursue career preparations through degree programs. It is all about free enterprise where private and public investments must compete in order to enhance quality, meet demand, satisfy consumers, etc. True, regulators exist in public interest but that is not a passport for undermining the integrity of the private sector. The pioneer spirit is essential. The frontier spirit is necessary. As cases of alleged corruption have proved, it simplistic to give monopoly of morality to the public sector and to assume that private sector is immoral. It is all a matter of case by case. Find it, then we fix it. We move on. There is no need for ‘savior mentality’ here. All is it the Land of Dead?