by Bill Nelem
April 2008
After many months of hard work by Gene, Alaa, the two Joan's along with Dean Mulla and Vice Chancellor Simukanga, the MoU between UBC Okanagan Faculty of Health and Social Development and the Faculty of Medicine at University of Zambia, has been officially signed.
At a dinner party where we hosted 11 Zambians, including the Dean and the VC, amid flashing of cameras and much hoopla, the signing took place, using a UBCO pen(!).
I was just the courier in this process, but happy to play my role.
Much credence is given to MoU's here. Ours is not the first they've signed, nor will it be the last.
For them, the document means more than a casual offer to collaborate, it conveys a commitment to work with them in a productive way.
For us, it provides a flag around which we can rally people ideas and resources.
The fact that all the important dignitaries without exception showed up for dinner means that they see promise with our MoU.
Also, not lost on their Dean and VC, is that we have had some immediate success thanks to the planning that has gone behind the scenes by Gene, Alaa and the UBC Okanagan Faculty of Health.
Returning to Canada with Linda, Gary, Kim and I is Dr Margaret
Maimbolwa, the Assistant Dean of Medicine, a nurse, also head of their nursing school. Margaret will spend three weeks in Kelowna working on 8 different initiatives within nursing.
Gene has circulated an agenda that looks quite daunting. Did you know that it takes 7 or 8 years for a degree nurse to graduate in Zambia for want of an integrated curriculum?
Well, with some idea sharing and some curriculum support from
UBC Okanagan Nursing, Zambian nurses will soon have a 4-year degree programme!!
Given the high attrition rate over the 8 years it takes to complete here, I suspect that we'll double the nurse graduates within a few years.
The other immediate success we've had is with young Donald Kalolo. He's the Chief Pharmacist at their newly opened Cancer Hospital that's attached to the main University Teaching Hospital in a manner very similar to our cancer centre.
Laurel Kovacic has been helpful in getting Donald a membership in the International Oncology Pharmacy Association.
Concurrently with his full time job, he's doing a Master' degree in
Public Health. His thesis is to develop a palliative care model that he hopes will one day become national policy for Zambia.
Under the umbrella of our MoU, Donald is attending the annual international pharmacy meeting in California in June and then coming to Kelowna to do planning exercises with Carole, Barb and others at UBC Okanagan as well as with our KGH/IHA palliative care teams.
They have some cultural and legal issues here with respect to the use of narcotics for pain control. Not only do the have no palliative care programmes for the painful dying, they use virtually no analgesics for post surgical pain management. Physicians and nurses are concerned about being charged with narcotic abuse and consequently narcotics aren't used.
There are high levels of support for this culture to change, both within the MoH and with some key physicians.
We will help Donald to design his palliative care plans. He will embed it within their culture and then we will help him develop some regional pilot implementation programme.
This model could become a Zambian policy.
Also, there is the issue of supporting the appropriate use of analgesia following surgery.
Yet another success that this MoU will be the placement of Jessica and Lianne in Mongu where they will be involved in the teaching of the 2 year nursing diploma course. They start in Zambia this June. We need to get them some financial support. No, we will get them some support. This is a very important activity since it is our entry to rural Zambia where the needs are high.
Finally, this MoU will be essential for planning other ideas, some of which are in preliminary mode.
More later. Bill
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