Clinical Medical Physics Workforce Capacity and Distribution In Zimbabwe: Registration Status, Practice Patterns, and Service Coverage
Abstract
Purpose
To characterize the current Clinical Medical Physics (CMP) workforce in Zimbabwe, with emphasis on registration status, training completion, effective workforce capacity, geographic distribution, and implications for national clinical service coverage.
Methods
A national cross-sectional survey was administered to Medical Physicists trained in Zimbabwe, including individuals currently registered, previously registered, never registered, and those practicing locally or abroad. Survey domains included academic qualifications, clinical internship completion, registration with the Allied Health Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe, years of professional practice, subspecialty training, geographic location, and mobility drivers. Data were analyzed in aggregate. Facility-level information from Zimbabwe’s radiotherapy centres was incorporated to contextualize clinical service coverage and effective workforce capacity.
Results
Respondents demonstrated high academic attainment, with over 80% holding Master’s-level Medical Physics qualifications and none reporting doctoral-level clinical training. Slightly more than 50% had completed a recognized clinical internship, while others were unable to progress due to limited internship availability and supervision capacity. Approximately two-thirds of respondents were actively practicing as Medical Physicists, but only four clinically qualified Medical Physicists are currently practicing locally in Zimbabwe. Two are based at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and two at Mpilo Central Hospital, with one providing services across both a public and a private facility, reducing effective full-time equivalent capacity. Clinical practice is concentrated in Radiation Oncology. At public hospitals, external beam radiotherapy delivery is limited to three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy.
Conclusion
Zimbabwe’s CMP workforce is critically under-resourced, geographically concentrated, and structurally constrained. Effective workforce capacity is lower than nominal headcounts due to cross-site service provision and reliance on ageing infrastructure. These conditions restrict supervised training capacity and widen the gap between workforce availability and sustainable national clinical service coverage.