The decision to close the National Health Training College (NHTC) this week could not have come at a worse time for both the institution and the country at large.
In a bizarre, if not shocking move, the NHTC authorities decided to indefinitely shut down the institution on Monday this week after students protested the unfair treatment of their colleagues, who had been expelled from the college’s official accommodation for damaging a M1 000 lock.
The students, as reported elsewhere in this publication, argue the damage was never intentional and was the direct result of a malfunctioning and poorly managed facility.
But what was even more disturbing when our news crew visited the institution, which teaches healthcare professionals such as nurses, pharmacists and midwives, at around 6pm on Monday was some of the students were still stranded outside the college, with the authorities nowhere in sight to at-least ensure the safety of the learners.
“Well-wishers” could also be seen offering the vulnerable female students transport, which some reluctantly accepted while others would not put their lives in the hands of strangers, whose sincerity in helping them could not be guaranteed.
It was probably the timing of the closure, which comes at a time the quality of the school’s programmes is under severe scrutiny, which is now as much a talking point as the reason why the institution had to be shut down in the first place.
It is our belief this particular dispute, if indeed it was sparked by a broken padlock as claimed by the students, should not have degenerated into the fiasco it has since become had management provided the leadership that is expected at such an institution.
This week, the Lesotho Times also heard how the college’s graduates are allegedly continually criticised at their new workplaces for being all-but illiterate due to the poor quality of their curriculum.
It also emerged during our news crew’s visit to the college that the students’ problems have been compounded by poor communication between the management and important stakeholders such as major hospitals — where the learners are supposed to garner the much-needed experience through internships — and the ministry of health, which owns the institution.
The Lesotho Times further heard of a frosty relationship between students and the school management at all levels, which is said to have made learning extremely difficult at the college, and contributed to the poor quality of graduates.
Yet Lesotho, like most developing countries, continues to face challenges in its health sector due to the high prevalence of diseases such as tuberculosis and Aids.
Strengthening healthcare systems is one of the ways in which such epidemics can be contained, hence our regret at the problems besetting the National Health Training College at a time all stakeholders should be working at strengthening the institution.
It also goes without saying that Lesotho, like every other member of the United Nations, is now critically looking at how she has fared in achieving the Millennium Development Goals — the eight development targets countries have committed to have achieved by the year 2015.
These goals include reducing child-mortality, improving maternal health and combating HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases, all of which are critical for the socioeconomic wellbeing of the nation.
But it is only with institutions such as the National Health Training College playing their prescribed roles without any unnecessary interruptions that the country can seriously think of attaining the MDGs.
It is also our belief that the coalition government should have timeously intervened in the National Health Training College saga and displayed the same vigour it has shown in trying to resolve such issues as the famo music wars, to avert this embarrassing impasse and subsequent closure of the school.
