A total of 1 866 Zimbabwean doctors have signed up or
applied for the Higherlife Foundation fellowships after 1 504 extra doctors
submitted acceptance forms ahead of Friday’s deadline.
Only 362 had signed up last month but there was a surge in
applications in the last minute, the foundation confirmed on Friday.
The Higherlife offer for doctors comprises a non-negotiable
monthly subsistence allowance of $5 000 per doctor and free transport.
Apart from a monthly subsistence, Higherlife also provides
a smartphone as a tool of trade, VAYA pool car voucher to access the hospital at
a maximum of three trips per day.
About $10 million from the fund has been set aside for
tools of trade including stethoscopes, patella hammers, uniforms and other
diagnostic aids.
The Foundation also undertook to provide Wi-Fi at major
teaching hospitals in Zimbabwe.
Higherlife Foundation has since extended by six months, the
free transport programme for nurses and doctors employed at public healthcare
institutions in Zimbabwe.
The extended offer comes a day after Higherlife Foundation
extended an offer to pay doctors in the public healthcare sector through a
special medical fellowship it established late last year.
The move is designed to enable doctors to go back to work
following a long hiatus that had paralysed the country’s public healthcare
delivery system.
In a statement on Thursday, Higherlife Foundation said its
focus remained on patient care.
“In line with our commitment to putting the patient first,
we are pleased to announce that our free VAYA transport programme for nurses
and doctors, which has been in place for the past six months, has been further
extended and will run through to July 2020.”
The Foundation said along with free transport, its
affiliate businesses would “continue to provide free water deliveries to all
public hospitals and clinics in Harare”.
Higherlife Foundation has pledged to continue supporting
the country’s healthcare system and ensure “our public medical staff are well
resourced to carry out their work”.
HLF, using the funds extended from Strive Masiyiwa Family,
last year announced a $100 million medical training completion fellowship for
about 2 000 junior and senior doctors employed at public hospitals in Zimbabwe.
Higherlife is an initiative of the Masiyiwa Family and is
building on a 23-year commitment to education.
The foundation has supported the education of more than 250
000 students in Zimbabwe, Burundi, and Lesotho through its flagship education
initiatives — the Capernaum and Joshua Nkomo scholarship programmes.
The Capernaum Scholarship has been running in the last 23
years and provides tuition to orphaned and vulnerable children from early
childhood to tertiary education.
The Joshua Nkomo Scholarship (JNS) was established in 2006
and awards scholarships to talented Zimbabwean students through a rigorous
selection process, creating opportunities for them to study at local and
overseas learning institutions. Herald
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