FACULTY OF MEDICINE CELEBRATES 10 YEARS
The Faculty of Medicine is celebrating 10 years this year. Preparations are already afoot to celebrate this milestone which marks the University of Botswana’s share of transforming healthcare delivery in Botswana.
A number of activities have already been held around Gaborone and will culminate with a Gala Dinner on March 21, 2020 as part of showcasing the Faculty of Medicine’s contribution towards transforming Botswana from a resource to a knowledge-based economy.
As a build up towards the Gala Dinner the faculty organised a press conference on February 25, 2020 to brief the media and share information on planned activities for the celebrations.
Speaking at the event, the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Professor Doreen Masire, underscored the importantance of celebrating such milestone and highlighting the contribution the faculty was making towards a knowledge-based economy.
“As the Faculty, we sit at the intersection of education and healthcare system. Therefore, it is important to have knowledgeable and healthy society to be productive to assist in achieving Vision 2036,” said Professor Masire.
Meanwhile, Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Affairs, Professor Oathokwa Nkomazana, said it was worth celebrating the hard work of staff members and successes of the School of Medicine for contributing positively to the community.
Highlighting the background and training of medical students in Botswana, Professor Nkomazana said before then, government used to train medical students abroad and which was costly. She added that such resulted in some students not returning home to serve their community because of greener pastures abroad.
Professor Nkomazana further explained that in 1995, government then decided to establish a staged developmental school medicine at UB in association with other schools in South Africa and Australia.
“In August 2009 UB decided to have a full school of medicine with various medical programmes and a total enrolment of 36 students. And most of them are engaged in our local health care clinics across the country,” said Professor Nkomazana
Despite the achievements and successes so far, Professor Nkomazana decried challenges such as resources and financial constraints. Notwithstanding, she was quick to point out that the school has graduated over 300 doctors among them coming from neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa.
Professor Nkomazana said other achievements included receiving international partners such as Rutgers, UPenn, Harvard and international donors for research projects.