About Us

Mission

The Mission of the CBU SM is to produce Medical Doctors and Dentists who understand the health care context of the Zambian community, who will be able to convert their knowledge into solutions that will impact the care of the sick in Zambia. These Doctors will always be looking for opportunities to better their practice and be able to work on par with other Medical Doctors and Dentists trained in the region or in any developed country.

Vision

The vision of the CBU SM is to produce sufficient doctors and Dentist to meet the WHO recommendation of 1 doctor per 5000 population, 1:10,000 and one specialist per 10,000 populations, 1:300,000 respectively. Through this to improve the health indices in Zambia to the level obtaining in developed countries.

Values

  • Academic Excellence
  • Integrity
  • Service to the community
  • Interdisciplinary collaboration
  • Evidence-based practice
  • Continuous professional development
  • Innovation
  • Self and peer review

Our History

The Copperbelt University School of Medicine (CBU SM) idea was conceived in 2009.The University of Zambia school of Medicine had been the single public Medical School in Zambia for over 43 years and had produced just over 1200.The incumbent Dean of the UNZA School of Medicine, at the time, Prof Y F Mulla and the Minister of Health Hon Kapembwa Simbao agreed that the starting of a second Medical university be pursued as a urgent priority.The CBU agreed to provide governance of the School, while the Ndola Central Hospital & Arthur Davison s Childrens Hospital were selected as the initial location of administrative offices and the clinical training site. The presence of the Biomedical School and the Tropical Diseases Research centre provided additional support for the research and basic science training components of the program. In 2009 with the help WHO, a consultant , Prof Solomon Shakumbi of the University of Ibadan was invited to determine the feasibility of the project. The consultants evaluation indicated that this was a feasible project. In 2010 Cabinet of the Government of Zambia appointed a technical working group to oversee the commencement of the project. The committee proposed the setting up of both the MBChB(Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery) and BDS(Bachelor of Dental Surgery) programs. In 2011 the committee through the Copperbelt University designated a Founding Dean, to commence the work of setting up the School with an opening date of mid 2011.

Current

The CBU SOM was approved by the Senate of the Copperbelt University and inaugurated by the President of the republic of Zambia at the time in June 2011. The Health Professions council approved the commencement of training in Dentistry and Medicine in June 2011.The founding Dean Professor K Bowa was appointed on the 1st July 2011. The school admitted its inaugural class on the 14th November 2011. There were 72 students admitted. Of whom 26 were in the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS)Program and 46 in the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBCHB).The school has set up 3 key departments which are basic sciences, clinical sciences and dental sciences. The staff establishment for year 1 was 15.

The current permanent staff are as follows

  1. Academic Staff              21
  2. Non Academic Staff     15

The school has 7 academic courses for year 1 and has 3 semesters. In addition 29 part time staff have been recruited to support the teaching. The school has been using shared facilities for teaching, staff offices and students accommodation. Specifically allocated areas for the school include 8 administrative offices, 1 library, 32 roomed student hotels, a cafeteria with 250 seating space, an anatomy lab with 10 cadaver capacity and a 100 seat lecture theatre.

The school is using the School of Biomedical Sciences for pathology laboratory teaching and staff offices for Basic Sciences. In addition the students Hostels for 32 medical/dental students are located at the Ndola school of Biomedical Sciences.

The clinical teaching is being done at Ndola University Hospitals (NCH,Ndola Central Hospital and ADCH Arthur Davison Childrens Hospital), which are large specialist referral hospital with a combine bed capacity of 1400 beds. Public health practical teaching is being done in Ndola rural chief Mushilis area. A community worker has been employed to facility student access to the community in Chief Mushilis area.

The school has secured a 50 hectare plot in Hillcrest which is designated for the building of a 500 bed hospital, 1000 student accommodation facility, the medical and dental college facility. The Copperbelt University is in the process of securing title deeds for the property. Construction of the facility phase 1 and 2 are expected to be complete in August 2015.