President Hakainde Hichilema has commended the Chinese government for the support rendered towards the construction of the new Mulungushi International Conference Centre which is expected to be handed over soon.

President Hichilema says the conference centre has come at the right time when Zambia will be hosting the African Union Summit, which will bring together important delegates.

Speaking when he received credentials from the new Chinese Ambassador to Zambia, Xiaohui Du, President Hichilema reaffirmed Zambia’s position to maintain the best relations shared between the two countries.

The President further thanked China’s support towards the debt resolution efforts adding that the debt status was taking away the resources meant for economic development.

And the Head of State said Zambia has keen interest in learning from the path taken by China to develop in diverse sectors, which has translated into bettering the lives of the Chinese people.

President Hichilema said the Chinese path to development in areas such as technology, industry, textiles, construction and health, is inspiring as it has happened in the shortest period of time.

He noted that Zambia has benefited from that country’s development in many ways citing the health sector which received COVID-19 medication and preventive materials, that helped in mitigating the negative impacts of the pandemic.

The Head of State said he looks forward for more cooperation with China in many areas including those associated with green energy, arising from the effects of climate change.

“The Zambian government has in this regard keen interest in China’s success over the years, which is really admirable,” President Hichilema stated.

President Hichilema further indicated the need for China to work with Zambia in the area of value addition as the country looks at ways of exporting value added products.

“Zambia is happy to work with the Chinese Ambassador because there is a lot more to partner such as modernizing the economy and we expect China to work with us in exploiting our raw materials because China has a huge market,” he added.

He reiterated the long lasting relations between Zambia and China, which emanates from the common interest such cultures, economic, peace, security and stability, in addition to the shared values between the two countries.

The Head of State noted that all those issues would only be possible if stability and peace are maintained globally.

He implored countries such as China to help maintain safety, stability and security for the underdeveloped countries to emulate and can focus on economic development.

Meanwhile, Chinese Ambassador to Zambia, Xiaohui Du said he is honored to work in the country stating that he will take the mutual relationship to a higher level.

Mr. Du said Zambia has over the past 58 years made tremendous achievements such as political stability, continuous economic and social progress and enjoyed the long term partnership with China.

The Ambassador indicated that since getting into office, President Hichilema has promoted economic transformation and national unity to ensure that the people’s well-being is improved.

Mr. Du said he believes that under the current leadership, Zambia will make new and good relations in all its areas of national development.

He said he will endeavor to strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries and is hopeful that he will receive the necessary support from Zambia.

Ambassador Du takes over from the former Chinese Ambassador to Zambia, Li Jie.

President Hakainde Hichilema is tomorrow Friday, May 13, expected in the Copperbelt Province for a one day working visit.

Copperbelt Province Permanent Secretary, Augustine Kasongo has disclosed in an interview with ZANIS in Ndola today, that the plane carrying the Head of State is expected to land at Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe Airport in Ndola at 09:00 hours and will be received by the Provincial Minister, Elisha Matambo and Heads of Government Departments.

He said the President will proceed to Mpongwe District where he is expected to officiate at this year’s National Agriculture Field Day being organised by the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) to be held at a farm in Mukumpu area located in Ndubeni Chiefdom.

Mr. Kasongo explained that the President will participate in crop field visit and tour exhibition stands for Agro dealers.

He said the President is also expected to return to Lusaka after the end of the programme.

This year’s National Agriculture field day is being held under the theme “Transforming Agriculture Sector and enriching the lives of farmers and consumers for generations to come.

Minister of Health, Sylvia Masebo, says the government will not allow over enrolment of students in nursing learning institutions across the country.

Ms. Masebo has observed that over enrolment in nursing schools if not well managed, may have serious short, medium and long term effects on service delivery in the country.

Speaking when she toured Kabwe College of Nursing and Midwifery, Ms. Masebo said the unprecedented overcrowding in classes at training institutions in the country is a threat to the very essence of service delivery in the health sector.

“Most nursing schools are over-enrolling; this may have an effect on teaching and learning. It is a well-known fact that lecturers are failing to cope with students’ increasing numbers and this has an impact on the general nursing education in Zambia,” Ms. Masebo noted.

Ms. Masebo said the exam pass rate at Kabwe College of Nursing and Midwifery has dropped from 100 percent to 62 percent due to over enrolment.

She noted that the over-enrolment in nursing schools is making the tutor- student ratios in classes much more unhealthy, creating uncharacteristic environments for teaching and learning.

“Supervision of students in the clinical section is not effectively done, even issues of the practical are not effectively done because of over enrolment, ” she noted.

The minister observed that most facilities were more interested in getting money from students and parents while forgetting about planning on how to expand their spaces of learning.

“Out of economic desires to grow, most facilities have overburdened themselves by chewing what they can’t swallow, hence the overcrowding we are seeing today that has affected quality service delivery,” she said.

She expressed the concern after realizing that Kabwe Central Hospital Nursing School which initially planned to enroll 70 students last January had enrolled over 130 students.

Ms. Masebo has since directed the Permanent Secretary for Technical Services at the Ministry of Health and the department of nursing to go round and check on the over enrolment in both private and government health schools of learning.

Meanwhile, Kabwe Central Hospital, Senior Medical Superintendent, Victor Kusweje, has reiterated the need for decongestion of nursing learning institutions if quality education is to be provided.

Dr. Kusweji stated that most of the challenges being faced by learning institutions were as a result of over enrolment.

“Currently the main issues that the school has are the high number of students that would relate to the teaching aspect as well as how they are being kept at the institution,” Dr Kusweje said.

Dr. Kusweji said the high numbers raise questions about the effectiveness of teaching to the students and that is what the school was trying to resolve.

And speaking earlier, Kabwe College of Nursing and Midwifery Principal Tutor, Alice Banda, said the institution has turned the dining hall into a lecture room as a way of mitigating the shortage of the learner space.

Ms. Banda said the institution is currently saving some money to build a classroom that would accommodate about 200 learners.

“For this we are lobbying through the ministry of health for financial and material support to help us build a 200 capacity learners classroom to mitigate space shortage,” she said.