PR-WITS-MULTI-MILLION-CAMPUS SAPA PR--WITS CENTRE FOR RURAL HEALTH TO ESTABLISH MULTI-MILLION RA...
Nov 11, 2009 at 04:29 PM
ISSUED BY: WITS UNIVERSITY
ATTENTION: HEALTH REPORTERS / NEWS EDITORS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
11 NOVEMBER 2009
WITS CENTRE FOR RURAL HEALTH TO ESTABLISH MULTI-MILLION RAND DISTRICT EDUCATIONAL CAMPUS IN THE NORTH WEST
District healthcare development in the North West Province has received a significant boost, with the advent of a major new grant. Training of all health worker categories, resulting in improved service delivery, will be facilitated by the establishment of a district educational campus, as part of the Wits Centre for Rural Health.
The Wits Centre for Rural Health was this month awarded R9-million for the establishment of a Rural-Based Education Campus in the North West Province by Atlantic Philanthropies. The awarding of a three-year grant to develop this District Training Unit is not only a major boost for the recently launched Centre for Rural Health, focusing on developing human resources for rural health but also for the people of the North West Province, one of the most rural provinces in the country, with the lowest doctor and nurse to population ratios.
The critical shortage of healthcare professionals is a national problem but affects mostly the poor and rural population. Over 65% of the inhabitants in North West Province live in rural areas, with access to about 11 public sector doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 30 public sector doctors in an average urban province.
This grant will enable the development of a pilot District Educational Campus within the Lehurutshe-Zeerust Hospital Complex, at Lehurutshe in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District of the North West. Over the next three years about 60 students will be enrolled in the Bachelor of Clinical Medical Practice (BCMP) degree for training as Clinical Associates, a new mid-level medical category. The degree programme was launched at Wits in early 2009. The Clinical Associate will work in a team of clinicians in district hospitals, complementing the primary care nurse, and under supervision of a doctor.
The North West Provincial Department of Health, with whom Wits has a long-standing relationship, is highly supportive of and involved in the initiative. It has already created posts for future clinical associates in its staffing structure and is making bursaries available for prospective students from the North West, who will then complete most of their training within the province.
While the District Educational Campus venture focuses initially on training clinical associates, it will provide an impetus for the further development of training in the North West, for medical students, family physicians, nurses and others. It is also intended that the rural campus model will be expanded into the other three districts in the province.
These developments respond to international evidence showing that retaining sufficient healthcare professionals in rural areas requires an integrated comprehensive approach, which starts with the right selection criteria for health sciences students, includes decentralised health professional education in rural areas and requires ongoing support for rural healthcare professionals.
