By MARTIN MUSUNKA –
NORTHRISE University has developed a nursing degree programme to be offered at Kansanshi Health Campus which was officially opened in Solwezi yesterday.
First Quantum Minerals (FQM) and Northrise University have partnered with Mary Begg Community Hospital (MBCH), a registered provider of clinical education under the Ministry of Health to ensure that students and graduates receive the best clinical education and opportunities available.
FQM group health coordinator Anna Pascall said at the official hand-over of Northrise University Kansanshi Health campus in Solwezi yesterday that the occasion symbolised the opening of a new set of opportunities for the community in North-Western Province regarding access to tertiary education.
Ms Pascall said the development would in time contribute to the capacity of the province to attend to the most pressing needs of the health care system and the ever increasing numbers of people who depend on it.
She said the key focus of FQM health promotions and health services had always been on the sustainable development of quality health care systems and services for the communities in which they live and work.
She said that FQM had always worked alongside Government to ensure their programmes are not stand-alone and are contributing to the common good and community agreed goals but also address their needs as an international mining company.
“Our programmes have met with much success over the years – with huge benefits in health promotions and the delivery of health services in urban and rural (very rural) settings. And imagine…….these programmes are initiated, developed, implemented, and led by nursing graduates! With assistance, of course, from various experts in different fields of medicine, safety, and environment,”
Ms Pascall said.
She added that nurses were a key component of the health care system, as capable providers at the core face of need, wonderful coordinators of care within low and high level facilities, and efficient interpreters and initiators of health principles which allows for flexible and pragmatic delivery of health services no matter what the circumstances are.
“A well trained nurse can provide primary health care and interactions in every space with the support of a strong medical and allied health system in the background. A well trained nurse saves the health care budget by providing relevant health care and advice at the ‘less expensive’ end of health care.
The Northrise University Nursing Degree Programme has been developed to supply our FQM/MBCH facilities and those in the North-Western Province, with the ‘Nurse Leaders of the Future’.The mining company has partnered Northrise University as they are known to provide consistently high quality graduates in many areas in the Copperbelt Province.
Northrise University has in turn partnered with Baylor University in Texas to ensure the programmes at the newly opened institution in Solwezi, have the technical support and latest training methods.
And Northrise University vice-chancellor Moffat Zimba said he was excited that Northrise University School of Nursing had been opened now when the institution was contemplating the facility to be in place in the next six years.
He credited the opening of the Northrise University School of Nursing in Solwezi to Ms Pascall who was looking for a university that could offer a nursing degree.
Dr Zimba said the opening of Kansanshi Health Campus was Ms Pascall’s dream that has come true.
Baylor University vice-provost for global engagement Jeffrey Hamilton congratulated FQM and Northrise University for coming up with the initiative of a university school of nursing and looked forward to working and growing together.-SUMA SYSTEMS.
