NYASHA RUSHWAYA
HARARE- The Zimbwa family is undoubtedly one which goes in the annals of history as having silently contributed immensely towards the country’s health and security sector over the last three decades.
Last month, the nation celebrated the retirement of renowned Masvingo based veteran medical practitioner and Commissioner Dr Godfrey Zimbwa from the police service.
Once again this month the nation joins the Zimbwa family to bid farewell to another family member, who like his brother is also a high ranking police officer and a medical practitioner based in the capital.

The Midweek watch exclusively provides an insight into the life of Dr Innocent Zimbwa.
Dr Innocent Zimbwa is the younger brother to the Masvingo based medical practitioner, Dr Godfrey Zimbwa and was born in 1971 in Gutu.
He did his primary education in Gutu at Machingambi School from grade 1 to grade 7.
He then went to Harare High School for his Ordinary level studies.
Dr Zimbwa then proceeded to Kutama High School for his Advanced level studies.
“Kutama high was a very good stepping stone that made me to qualify for a government scholarship courtesy of the Late former President Mugabe.
“I then went on to study in Turkey and it was by grace of God that I got enrolled at the prestigious Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical School,” Dr Zimbwa said.
The astute medical practitioner who like his brother is soft spoken said the government scholarship to Turkey also had three other students from Kutama High School who benefited but went to different countries to further their studies .
There were two others who qualified for the scholarship who went to the United Kingdom, both are architects and Dr Zimbwa was the only one who chose medicine.

“It was a 6 year degree program and back then in terms of communication we used letters and postcards and sometimes phones but they were not readily available to communicate with the people back home.
“I never got visitors that would come and check up on me since I went abroad.
“The college days were one of the best days as I was young and very experimental, especially the travelling and exposure, meeting Asians, Africans and Europeans.
“Turkey was a very good training ground in Africa’s education. I then graduated in 1999,” he said.
After completing his studies, the passionate young Dr Zimbwa returned to his motherland and joined Harare Hospital in July, 1999.
“Having learned in Turkey where there were no reports of HIV, the one that we had heard whilst I was studying was at a distant hospital which was quite far from where we studied.
“So at Harare Hospital when I joined every day, we were losing patients at a quite frustrating rate and worse, there was no medication in hospitals for the patients and that was the birth of my vision of creating an institution that could make a change and difference in the community,” he added.
During his early days at Harare Hospital, Dr Zimbwa said fears were abound among the medical practitioners of contracting HIV while in line of duty.
“We also had that fear of also contracting the pandemic through needle pricks, but it was through God’s grace that we survived,” he said
In 2003 Dr Zimbwa left the Ministry of Health and Child Care and went into full time private practice with Premier Services Medical Aid Society.
He was stationed in Masvingo until December 2006.
“I left PSMAS and re- joined the Ministry of health and enrolled for a Masters programme in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at University of Zimbabwe in 2007
“After passing my first year I relocated to Zambia and transferred my creditsto to the University of Zambia and started my second year masters program,” he said.
The reason for the transfer according to Dr Zimbwa was due to the economic hardships which resulted in the scarcity of learning resources at most of the country’s educational facilities
In 2011, he graduated with a Masters in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and was one of the best student doctors out of the 10 that year.
A year later he returned back to Zimbabwe and started work at Harare Hospital for a year before he had an inter-ministerial transfer from the Ministry of Health to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“I joined the ZRP as an Assistant Commissioner medical and was stationed at Chukuribi Support Unit which is the armed wing of the police.
“I had several duties which included general medical practitioner, specialist medical, mainstream policing (that is ordinary police duties of a commissioner, a position I hold as I retire,” he said.
In 2015 Dr Zimbwa was transferred from support Unit to Harare Province which is an administrative police province within Harare and worked for one year
“I enjoyed working as both a medical doctor and as a senior police officer and appreciated the interaction of the medical practice and law enforcement duties.
“I would go and get briefing from juniors and then I would also brief my superiors on the different cases of interest and then go to the clinic to see the different police officers and their dependents and after that I would do private practice,” he said.
He added that the conditions of service allowed him to do his own private practice and it was quite easy to predict and work according to plans.
“I generally work 24/7 and as a gynaecologist I cannot even leave town without having someone to cover for me.
“I try by all means to balance my professional life and my family life. I observe all the holidays religiously and take time off and whenever there is a reason to celebrate I do so.
“I find time in between and I create it whenever I can, I even do international travels so that I can be with my family,” he said.
Dr Zimbwa is also married to a medical doctor and the couple is blessed with four boys and two of them are already in medical school, following their parents footsteps.
“Some of the achievements in my life, was to marry a doctor when she was a medical student and we have been together since then.
“She is an anaesthetist specialist and my frugal business partner who is responsible for financial management and physical support.
“I also managed to build a 35 bed CBD Hospital, which houses a casualty, theatre, maternity, nursery for baby care, dialysis and consultation rooms manned by 10 specialist doctors.
“In terms of equipment, the CBD clinic has the state of the art equipment and is quite equipped and is on the verge of opening a second theatre that will be catering for neurological and orthopedic surgery for, we have recently acquired an equipment called the image transfer machine which is mainly used by the orthopedics and neurosurgeons in their procedures,” he said.
He is pleased that he was able to compliment the government effort of bringing or coming up with the best health services to the people.
In giving back to the community, he said they have managed to employ at least 50 workers at the hospital.
“We also offer very little to fair pricing to our patients to cushion from the hardships being faced in the country.
“We also have a lot of pro bono services for special cases,” he added.
During his spare time Dr Zimbwa is into farming and runs a successful horticulture and livestock project.
It is interesting to note that most of the products being consumed by patients at his hospital and other entertainment joints he runs in the capital are from his farm.
“At the entertainment centre we have managed to build 2 bars, a butchery, takeaway and braai area and we offer entertainment activities such as zipline and a good trail for quad biking,” he said.
The versatile medial practitioner said he has a vision of having a state of the art abattoir which meets international standards, that will meet export quality standard from the killing, skinning, separation and cutting of pieces.
Machinery for the abattoir are on site and in the process of being installed.
“You can’t just be a doctor and ignore the business aspect because even if it’s a hospital you have to treat it like a business for, they will always be a financial aspect to run the institution.
“We are also establishing a boarding school at the same farm, targeting 400 learners and the school is 50% complete and the vision is to offer high standard in impressive educational environment and a culture of excellence,” he said.
Dr Zimbwa said people should be resolute in their endeavors if they want to be successful in all aspects of their lives.
“To those who are in business and all the other professions don’t let your profession tie you down to some of the things that you think you can achieve.
“For it starts with one having established a vision and you work towards achieving it,” he said.
In his journey there were ups and downs. He said he made several different attempts, some that did not work but he never gave up.
He said his wish on retirement is to be a tutor so that he can help to inspire medical students to achieve their full potential.
“The fact that I have mentioned all my achievements doesn’t mean that I have not failed on some things that I wanted to do in life.
“Now that I’m retiring I will go and put all my efforts in the small business.
“My dream is to join the central hospital so that I can be a tutor for the young and upcoming medical students so that I can impart the knowledge that I acquired in Turkey and the experience that I accumulated through the years.
“This will be my small way of contributing back to the community so that we make a difference in the society that we live in,” he said.