Africa-Press – Namibia. FOURTEEN physiotherapy graduates who were sent to study at a private university in Zambia on a Ministry of Health and Social Services scholarship say the ministry has let them down.
They are unsure about their careers as the ministry has not provided them with internships as promised, they say. Selma Ekandjo, one of the graduates, last week said she and 15 other Namibian students were sent to study physiotherapy at Apex Medical University in Lusaka in 2014.
About 14 of them graduated as physiotherapists in 2019, she said. However, three years after their graduation, they have not been registered as physiotherapists due to a pending one-year mandatory internship, Ekandjo said.
She said the contract they signed with the ministry indicated they would be offered jobs upon graduating. “Currently I am volunteering at Onandjokwe State Hospital as a health programme officer, but am working as a physiotherapist,” she said.
Ekandjo said the scholarship included accommodation, tuition fees, registration, training kits, books and stationery, medical aid, and a monthly allowance.
“The contract we signed indicated that upon completion of the course, the ministry would offer us internships. We were the first group of Namibian students to study physiotherapy in Lusaka,” she said.
Ekandjo said the ministry keeps telling the group of graduates to wait. “We are required to do a one-year internship so that we can be registered by the Health Professions Councils of Namibia (HPCNA),” she said. She said they are required to be trained by a registered physiotherapist during their internship.
“We have just been at home waiting for internships since 2019, but no hospital has been approved by the HPCNA to train interns. In 2020 Windhoek Central Hospital was approved, but only two interns are allowed per physiotherapist,” Ekandjo said.
When Covid-19 struck Namibia the graduates were called and given contracts as health programme officers at various government hospitals countrywide, she said.
Another graduate, who prefers to only provide his first name, Angelus, says he has been placed at Eenhana District Hospital, also as a health programme officer although he is working as a physiotherapist.
“We tried getting internships at private hospitals, but it’s not working out,” he said. He confirmed that the ministry keeps telling them to be patient.
Contacted for comment, executive director of health and social services Ben Nangombe said the ministry in 2014 offered 16 students scholarships to study physiotherapy in Lusaka.
Nangombe said 14 out of the 16 students have graduated and two are still in their final year. “The ministry has spent US$3 960 (N$61 000) in four years’ tuition fees per semester per student,” he said.
Nangombe said the ministry additionally spent US$120 (N$1 850) on accommodation per month per student for four years, and US$350 (N$5 390) on allowances per month per student for four years. He denied that the ministry has promised the students internships and jobs after they have graduated.
“That information is not true. However, as per the HPCNA, physiotherapy graduates have to undergo a one-year mandatory internship at an accredited teaching hospital, supervised by a senior physiotherapist,” Nangombe said.
He said the country currently has 13 physiotherapists. Only three hospitals in Namibia have been approved by the HPCNA to train physiotherapy graduates – the Windhoek Central Hospital, the Katutura Intermediate Hospital and the Oshakati Intermediate Hospital, he said.
“Currently only the Windhoek Central Hospital is accommodating students. Katutura hospital does not have experts to train interns at the moment. Oshakati Intermediate Hospital has only been approved and not been accredited yet,” Nangombe said.
For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press
