The Zimbabwean government announced Wednesday that it would open more Primary Care Nurse (PCN) training institutions next year in a bid to improve health care service provision in the country.

Health Minister David Parirenyatwa said two training institutions would be opened in Mashonaland Central province in next January while Binga Hospital, in Matebeleland North, would open another, once the institution matched the Nurses Council of Zimbabwe training requirements.

The minister said his ministry was targeting to train 2,500 nurses, with 504 having completed their training.

Another 234 nurses completed their 18-month training in June, the minister said.

A total of 1,070 students were being trained while the remainder would undergo training between January next year and July 2007.

Parirenyatwa said the program, which began in August 2003, had 11 training schools that had since been increased to 16.

The Public Service Commission introduced the training of PCN with the aim of alleviating nurse shortages and to provide quality health care to rural health service centers that are experiencing a shortage of nurses.

The minister said the training of PCN would go a long way in helping the country attain some of the health related Millennium Development Goals which among other notable aims, seek to reduce infant and maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS and malaria.

Source: Xinhua