Lusaka Nursing Institute: God-sent for Florence Nightingales-to-be

In an interview recently, Marijn said at a time when the country’s medical profession was being depleted through brain drain, there was need to safeguard the number of people in the sector and in fact ensure that the number increased.
According to statistics, the critical shortage of well—trained medical personnel was such that there were only 500 physicians and specialist doctors actively working in Zambia against a population of 11 million people.
The number of registered nurses is equally very low.
Every year, loads of medically-trained people were leaving Zambia for neighbouring countries, United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US) and elsewhere where they were being offered higher salaries and better working conditions.
For example, in 2003 alone, 11,000 medical staff from African countries were granted work permits in the UK.
The African Society on its website states that each year 14,000 nurses from southern Africa were leaving for the UK and that since 1997, 70,000 African nurses had started work there.
However, there are no records to show whether all medical personnel who have left the country were employed in the mainstream medical field or ended up doing menial jobs like cleaning.
Added to all this is the mushrooming of dubious institutions that have duped many a school leaver into paying school fees for nursing programmes that have never come to be.
Because of this, Marijn, who is a medical anthropologist trained in the Netherlands, decided to come to the aid of the scores of school leavers longing to join the noble profession of the legendary Florence Nightingale.
Through the financial support of her family back in the Netherlands, Marijn set up the GETU Foundation which raised $10,000 to kick start the project.
By then, Marijn had already made contact with Brighton, a lecturer in laboratory sciences at Chainama Hills College and a part-time lecturer at the University of Zambia (UNZA) School of Medicine in health care.
He is also a consultant in malaria control.
Being in the medical profession, Brighton also had a desire on his heart to start a nursing school.
Together, Marijn and Brighton launched an application with the GNC which handed down a list of requirements that they had to meet before registration could be approved.
“They were difficult requirements to meet. Most of the instruments, materials and equipment we needed were not available in Zambia, especially the books. The few that could be found locally were very expensive.
“The GNC was quite strict but very supportive. They really looked over our shoulder to ensure that we were doing everything correctly but they did not crush us. In the end they were happy with the nursing school and allowed us to go ahead,??? Marijn explained.
Armed with the registration certificate, Marijn and Brighton are out to make a difference.
Through the LNI, the two are determined to train young Zambians on how to assist their fellow countrymen in difficult periods of disease and illness.
“Without these future health workers, Zambia will have an even harder time fighting diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. These diseases require professional attention,??? Marijn said.
Brighton, whose work has seen him travel the length and breadth of the country, says AIDS is a real concern and that the health sector had not been spared either, thereby placing a strain on the health delivery system.
AIDS has taken its toll among medical workers and recent statistics showed that at least 3.5 pe rcent of nurses died of AIDS every year.
Brighton said under normal circumstances, a nurse was supposed to look after six patients but at the moment a nurse was caring for as many as 100 patients.
It is little wonder why some of the nurses have an attitude.
“We have situations where cleaners and sweepers are running health centres. Our motivation is that if we can raise a number of trained nurses, then that sweeper in the rural area will be relieved of that additional responsibility.
“We want to focus on quality service and good patient management even under difficult circumstances,??? Brighton said.
The birth of LNI has not been without teething problems, one of which are the relatively high tuition fees structure in the Zambian tertiary education system that are preventing many from attending school.
Marijn said even when LNI was charging K6 million a year, 30 per cent lower than University Teaching Hospital’s K12 million for the registered nurse programme, many students could not afford.
Out of the 36 who enrolled in the first intake only 14 were able to sponsor themselves, Marijn says.
To address this issue, LNI has lined up, as a long-term programme, the introduction of subsidised student grants with the help of the Zambian diaspora abroad to accord more people an opportunity to train as nurses.
“Once achieved, we see the number of nurses will increase with improved nursing care and that in the next 20 years, Zambia may start exporting nurses on agreement!??? concludes Brighton.