Pindula:Weekly featured article/June 2015, Week 25
Samuel Tichafa Parirenyatwa was a distinguished Zimbabwean nationalist cum medical doctor. He is today celebrated for being the country's first black medical doctor. After acquiring training as a medical doctor at Fort Hare University in South Africa, Parirenyatwa entered in the white-dominated medical profession at a young age. He practiced his medical career in a number of hospitals such as Salisbury Central Hospital and Andrew Flemming Hospital in the then Salisbury and later in Kezi, Matabeleland.
The Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, which is the country's biggest health institution was named after him in recognition of his sterling work.
What makes Parirenyatwa an outstanding figure in the histroy of Zimbabwe was his ability to juggle both his medical career as well as nationalist politics. He was ZAPU's vice president at the time of his untimely death in 1962.
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