GZU to offer medicine and surgery degrees

This week marks a historic and defining moment for medical education in Masvingo province following the approval of Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) to offer a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree.

The Medical and Dental Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe (MDPCZ), working in liaison with the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE), has officially granted accreditation for the programme to be housed at the Simon Mazorodze School of Medical and Health Sciences. The approval clears the way for Masvingo to train its first cohort of medical doctors.

For the province, the development represents far more than an administrative milestone. It is the fulfilment of a long-held aspiration to establish a fully fledged medical school outside the country's major urban centres. An MDPCZ inspection team confirmed that the institution met the minimum regulatory and training standards required for medical education.

The impact of the approval is expected to extend well beyond the university campus. The establishment of a medical school at GZU will significantly strengthen healthcare delivery in the province, with medical specialists set to be seconded to Masvingo Provincial Hospital to support both teaching and clinical services. Patients, the local community and the national health system are all expected to benefit.

The journey towards this milestone began in October 2022 when President Emmerson Mnangagwa commissioned the Simon Mazorodze School of Medical and Health Sciences, pledging that nothing would stand in the way of its operationalisation. Since then, steady progress has been made to turn that commitment into reality.

With the inclusion of GZU, Zimbabwe now has four medical schools, reinforcing the country's reputation for producing highly skilled doctors. However, this success has also contributed to sustained brain drain, with developed countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the United States actively recruiting Zimbabwean medical professionals.

In the long term, experts argue that decentralising medical education by establishing medical schools in every province could increase training capacity and help stabilise the national health system.

As part of preparations for clinical training, Masvingo Provincial Hospital has undergone extensive renovations to meet teaching hospital standards. The transformation was achieved through close collaboration between the university and the ministries of Health, Local Government, and Higher and Tertiary Education. The Ministry of Finance has further underlined government support by allocating funds in the 2026 National Budget to upgrade the hospital into a fully fledged university teaching hospital.

Despite the progress, challenges remain. Staff retention is widely viewed as the biggest threat to the sustainability of the new medical school. Medical education is both costly and demanding, and without competitive incentives, the risk of losing qualified lecturers and specialists remains high.

Calls have been made for urgent intervention through improved remuneration aligned with regional benchmarks, as well as non-monetary incentives such as housing schemes and access to residential stands to curb brain drain and improve staff morale.

The Simon Mazorodze School of Medical and Health Sciences also has ambitious expansion plans, including the introduction of programmes in nursing, pharmacy, environmental management and public health. If realised, these programmes could further strengthen Zimbabwe's healthcare delivery system.

Masvingo's achievement has been widely hailed as a testament to what sustained commitment and collaboration can deliver. For Great Zimbabwe University, the approval is a landmark victory — and one that many believe is worth celebrating.