Best Medical Schools in Zambia to Study Medicine

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Before looking into the best medical schools in Zambia, let us have an overlook of the career paths in Zambia. In Zambia, society has placed emphasis on career paths that have led to many different institutions opening up with the promise to provide quality education. The most notable career paths in Zambia are Law, Economics, Engineering, and Medicine.

The relief of completing school is only accompanied by the stress of figuring out what you want to do next. If you’re looking to improve your life and get yourself into an industry that is always looking to hire, thought about a medical course in Zambia? Becoming a doctor could be the next step for your personal growth and development.

Why Study Medicine (MBChB) in Zambia?

As a career, medicine in Zambia has many available spaces for employment, as Zambia generally has more clients than doctors. This speaks to the high demand for medical personnel within the country to much up to the needs of the population.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the acceptable ratio for a doctor to a patient is 1:1000; however, Zambia currently stands at a ratio of 1:12000. That is over 10 times the recommended doctor to patient ratio, showing the increased demand for universities offering medicine in Zambia.

Aside from the high demand for the doctors in Zambia, becoming a doctor is considered a noble cause as a nation is only as strong as its health system. We have 1 doctor for every 12,000 people, which translates to a loss of life as inevitable because there are insufficient doctors to tend to the patients.

Covid-19 has created a further appreciation for doctors as their importance has been affirmed through the scare of a new pandemic.

Nobility is nice to speak of, but being noble doesn’t pay the bills, thankfully being a doctor does. The starting salary for a doctor graduating from the best medical schools in Zambia is at K60,000, excellent pay for a few years of serious study.

Before you start work, you get paid a settlement allowance to help ease whatever financial constraints you may be facing and enable you to focus on the job. After three years of your contract, gratuities of up to K300,000 get paid to you to show appreciation for your noble service.

How to Become a Doctor

If the money doesn’t motivate you, it’s good to know the noble cause of saving lives does. To be an eligible applicant of top universities in Zambia to study medicine, you must achieve a credit or better in English, Mathematics, Biology/Agriculture, and Life/physical sciences and any other fifth subject to qualifying for a school of sciences.

Most people worry it is not as easy as just having good grades in school. Though grades are always the best evaluation for preparedness to get into the best medical schools in Zambia, it is best to use your gap year to gain some foundation for studying medicine.

There is a foundation program known as Health Professionals Foundation Program (HPFP), which should be the basis for those who wish to build on their basics and become academically and mentally ready before enrolling in the medical course in Zambia (MBChB).

You are not required to take this foundational course, but it will ease you into the life of doctors getting you adjusted into your new life.

In general, studying medicine in Zambia is a seven-year journey after your secondary education. These seven years are split into two parts, the first being four years of learning via classroom setting, and the second is in a hospital setting for the remaining three years.

After seven years of studying MBChB, you will be required to sit for the Health Practitioners Council of Zambia (HPCZ) licensing exam, and when you pass the exam, you are expected to do a paid internship for eighteen months before you can work with minimal supervision.

Which Are the Best Medical Schools in Zambia to Study Medicine?

With all this information presented, you must be wondering where to study medicine from in Zambia. Zambia has plenty of places to study medicine; highlighted below are the top universities in Zambia for studying medicine:

• The University of Zambia School of Medicine (Public Institution)
• Texila American University, Zambia (Private Institution)
• Copperbelt University of School of Medicine (Public Institution)

Why Should You Choose Texila American University to Study Medicine?

Texila American University (TAU), Zambia, prides itself on having an international standard curriculum, which means the standard of achievement and requirements are to merit that the rest of the world acknowledges your degree.

Remember that foundation course we spoke about earlier, the Health Professionals Foundation Program (HPFP). TAU offers entry straight into the foundation course to continue MBChB from whatever your educational background.

Clinical rotations are instrumental in developing the necessary skill set to be a great doctor. TAU offers a bachelor in medicine program and offers amazing clinical rotations with renowned hospitals.

Once you complete three years of basic sciences curriculum studies, you will get involved directly in the study and care of patients together with other team members.

Clinical rotation progresses through 30 weeks of internal medicine, 30 weeks of general surgery, 20 weeks of pediatrics, 20 weeks of obstetrics and gynecology, 10 weeks of psychiatry, and 10 weeks of community medicine.

• TAU offers state-of-the-art, air-conditioned lecture rooms equipped with overhead projectors and PA systems. In a Zambian university, lecture rooms are packed with many students that cause lectures to be less than ideal for lessons. TAU campus is set in a state-of-the-art, environmental-friendly campus, creating an ideal environment for students to learn and grow.
• The institution is adequately equipped with laboratories and plastic models to aid and enhance the learning experience of the medical student. Plastic models are replicas of body parts made of plastic that students use as learning aids.
• Pictures in books stop being enough to teach about the body adequately, and as such, the plastic models serve to give a 3D model of actual parts in the human body that you will be required to know.
• Having the facilities is not enough and understanding that, TAU has faculty recruited from all over the globe. You can imagine how many people put their trust in doctors. Being able to learn first-hand from some of the best in the world is invaluable to your growth as a doctor.
• TAU has a campus located in a safe and serene environment in the capital city of Lusaka. Though located in the heart of Lusaka, TAU’s campus is located close to residential address away from the noise of the busy city.
• To maintain a serene environment, TAU offers accommodation located only 10 minutes away from our main campus and multi-cuisine food for the convenience of the students from different regions and cultures.

With all this information presented, you must be considering all your different options for what to do with yourself now that high school is done. Many career paths lay before you but none nobler or as interested in seeing your continual educational growth.

Ready to become a Doctor

Becoming a doctor requires dedication, focus, and passion because it asks so much it also pays so much. What nobler cause is there than to save a life?