The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has directed the Copperbelt University (CBU) to continue running the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Dental Surgery Learning Programmes at the Higher Education Institution until further notice.
The Health Professions Council of Zambia over the weekend withdrew recognition and approval of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery and the Bachelor of Dental Surgery after a recent compliance monitoring inspection revealed a number of irregularities.
Copperbelt University was ordered to immediately discontinue offering two programmes at its School of Medicine for failure to meet set standards in accordance with the Health Professions Act Number 24 of 2009 of the Laws of Zambia.
Higher Education Authority Director General Professor Stephen Simukanga says as mandated by the Higher Education Act No. 4 of 2013 and Statutory Instrument No. 25 of 2016, the authority is the custodian of all higher learning institutions in Zambia, be it public or private, and has the authority to accredit Learning Programmes at these institutions.
Professor Simukanga says for this reason, in May 2018, the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Dental Surgery Learning Programmes at CBU were audited by experts acting on behalf of HEA for purposes of accreditation.
“Preliminary findings of the audit indicated that the Learning Programmes had areas that needed improvement. Following the findings, HEA began a process of guiding CBU in thoroughly addressing the Learning Programmes’ deficiencies and had asked the HEI to develop an implementation plan over a period of not more than one year. This was expertly deemed as a sufficient period of time in which to rectify all of the Learning Programmes’ deficiencies,” he said.
“Moreover, as it was expertly determined that the shortcomings of the Learning Programmes did not warrant the closure of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Dental Surgery Learning Programmes as “continuous improvement” of these Learning Programmes is instituted, CBU shall continue providing these Learning Programmes while they address the shortcomings that have been identified,”.
Meanwhile, the Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia has urged Copperbelt University Management to address issues that were cited by the Health Professionals Council of Zambia (HPCZ).
Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia President Jerome Kanyika says it is important that those issues found by the council are addressed now while the students are on holiday.