News / National
Mnangagwa restructures Scholarships Department
29 Oct 2018 at 09:13hrs | Views
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa is restructuring the Department of Scholarships as his administration seeks to give top priority to areas of critical skills in line with the Government's vision premised on a broad national skills strategy.
In his weekly column in our sister paper, The Sunday Mail, President Mnangagwa said there is a need to spell out areas of skills, which are a necessity in terms of the country's development vision and priorities.
"The old Department of Scholarships which we are restructuring will be a key vehicle for this broad national skills strategy. Gone are the days when we just received any scholarship on offer from friendly countries.
"We must now spell out areas of skills need which are reckoned in terms of our development vision and priorities, and the numbers we aim for," he said.
President Mnangagwa said the country seeks scholarships that build national capabilities in areas of greatest need.
He singled out the health sector, saying it must blaze a new trail in this regard.
"Much more, the skills strategy must be encompassing. By definition, medical work is collaborative and what this means is that whichever key skill we target, must develop alongside supportive skills in related disciplines," said President Mnangagwa.
The President said there must be a programme of equipping the country with facilities and modern medical gadgets which those skills require to function.
"Our inability to ensure that institutions at primary level are adequately staffed and provided with core competencies has created this impossible situation where provincial and central hospitals are no longer referrals for complicated cases requiring specialised interventions only," he said.
He attributed the collapse to poor working facilities and conditions in the national referral system.
"Add to this is the absence of trauma facilities along our highways where traffic accidents are frequent. Illustratively, any serious traffic accident along the Harare-Chirundu highway will have to be rushed back to Chinhoyi and Harare. This is quite typical on all our highways and we have lost many lives as a result," said President Mnangagwa.
He said there is a need to revisit the entire institutional healthcare by way of spatial distribution and deployment of key competencies across these institutions.
The President said health insurance is a key area for collaborative investment action by both public and private sector if the country is to realise its vision of becoming an upper middle income economy by 2030.
He said the country's medical schools, including other training institutions, are churning out hundreds of brilliant junior doctors, nurses and allied skills.
"All we need is to harness this brain power for far-reaching policy decisions and actions," he said.
In his weekly column in our sister paper, The Sunday Mail, President Mnangagwa said there is a need to spell out areas of skills, which are a necessity in terms of the country's development vision and priorities.
"The old Department of Scholarships which we are restructuring will be a key vehicle for this broad national skills strategy. Gone are the days when we just received any scholarship on offer from friendly countries.
"We must now spell out areas of skills need which are reckoned in terms of our development vision and priorities, and the numbers we aim for," he said.
President Mnangagwa said the country seeks scholarships that build national capabilities in areas of greatest need.
He singled out the health sector, saying it must blaze a new trail in this regard.
"Much more, the skills strategy must be encompassing. By definition, medical work is collaborative and what this means is that whichever key skill we target, must develop alongside supportive skills in related disciplines," said President Mnangagwa.
The President said there must be a programme of equipping the country with facilities and modern medical gadgets which those skills require to function.
"Our inability to ensure that institutions at primary level are adequately staffed and provided with core competencies has created this impossible situation where provincial and central hospitals are no longer referrals for complicated cases requiring specialised interventions only," he said.
He attributed the collapse to poor working facilities and conditions in the national referral system.
"Add to this is the absence of trauma facilities along our highways where traffic accidents are frequent. Illustratively, any serious traffic accident along the Harare-Chirundu highway will have to be rushed back to Chinhoyi and Harare. This is quite typical on all our highways and we have lost many lives as a result," said President Mnangagwa.
He said there is a need to revisit the entire institutional healthcare by way of spatial distribution and deployment of key competencies across these institutions.
The President said health insurance is a key area for collaborative investment action by both public and private sector if the country is to realise its vision of becoming an upper middle income economy by 2030.
He said the country's medical schools, including other training institutions, are churning out hundreds of brilliant junior doctors, nurses and allied skills.
"All we need is to harness this brain power for far-reaching policy decisions and actions," he said.
Source - chronicle
