From Troubled Childhood To Celebrated Doctor. The Aaron Mujajati Story

Dr. Aaron Mujajati, a Zambian medical doctor and entrepreneur, overcame a life-threatening illness and near leg amputation at age four to build an inspiring life of resilience and achievement. Despite early setbacks, including bullying, poverty, and academic failure, he excelled in school, pursued medicine at the University of Zambia, and later diversified into business. He founded Carepeak Specialist Clinic, co-authored medical publications, and became a public health advocate through social media. A former president of the Zambia Medical Association and Registrar of HPCZ, he is also a devoted family man and artist, with a passion for empowering others through integrity, hard work, and patience.

At age 4, Dr. Aaron Mujajati suffered a major blow to his young life that would have adverse effects on his health for several years. Born in 1975 as a third child in a family of 10. His father, a Shona from Zimbabwe and his mother, a Lozi from Zambia, had something in common - an unshaken belief in God. A belief that would carry them through the years as they navigated the difficult period of nursing back to health, their beloved son Aaron, who at age 4, had been diagnosed with Pyomyostis, a bacterial infection of the skeletal muscles, which resulted in osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease which causes tissues in the joints to break down over time. His condition saw young Aaron hospitalised at the University Teaching Hospital for a very long time. Doctors finally suggested amputation of his left leg as a solution to the problem.

His father agreed if it could save his son’s life. The suggestion, however, did not sit well with his mother, who felt her son would have a miserable existence without a leg. According to her, it would even be better if her son died rather than live his life without a leg.

Armed with a fierce resolve that she would nurse her son back to health on her own, she ran away from UTH and took him home. Mrs Mujajati took care of her ailing young child as best she could and would administer physiotherapy on him every day to help the leg which was at this point stuck in a flexed position to gain back its function. And that is how Aaron Mujajati, who was born a healthy child till age 4, started learning how to walk all over again.

As she nursed his leg back to life, Mrs Mujajati impressed upon her son that though God had, in her own words, taken away his leg, he would give young Aaron a brain that would enable him excel academically.

A couple of years later, now well enough to finally go to school, Aaron was enrolled at Emmersdale Primary School, where he did his grade 1 to grade 7 from 1982 to 1990. It was not a smooth path as he was constantly bullied by his friends both at school and at home because of his leg, which gave him a severe case of low self-esteem.

Coming from Chaisa compound, a poor neighborhood that was crime prone and notorious for substance abuse and other bad vices, Aaron had no role models outside his family to look up to and make him aspire a better life for himself - so he failed his grade 7 exams. This broke his mother’s heart and made him realise that he had to work harder and redeem himself in her eyes.

He repeated grade 7 and passed with flying colours on his second attempt and gained entrance to the prestigious Matero Boys secondary school - which was only reserved for the most intelligent boys at the time.

At Matero Boys, he took art as a hobby. It may interest the reader to know that Dr. Mujajati is an accomplished artist. He also met 4 guys whose focus was studying hard and getting the best results in school - he worked hard to catch their attention and became one of them. At grade 9, the 5 of them did extremely well in the exams, 4 of them made it to Hilcrest and one of them went to David Kaunda Technical High School. While at Hilcrest, he nurtured ambitions of becoming a lawyer, but the careers master at the school told him that he would do well to study medicine because he was doing exceptionally well in maths and science.

In grade 12, Aaron passed his exams and gained entrance to the University of Zambia, where he would study medicine.

In the second year, whilst at UNZA, he came upon a program on ZNBC TV, which was hosted by Chibamba Kanyama, which talked about the stock market. He immediately picked interest in it and armed with a K60 monthly allowance that was being provided by the institution, he decided to dedicate K20 each month to buying shares and would make his way to Pangaea Securities where he would buy shares in Chilanga Cement.

He also made a deal with a farmer who supplied him 40 trays of eggs per week, which he sold to the UTH canteen and some to his schoolmates. By the time he reached 6th year in medical school, Aaron decided to sell his shares in Chilanga Cement, coupled with the money he had made from the sale of eggs, he was able to buy his first car, a Toyota Camry and that was how his transport business started.

By the time he was completing his studies at UNZA and starting work as a medical doctor, he was already an established businessman, having registered a car hire company called Cubit Zambia Limited.

Dr. Mujajati holds a Bachelor of Human Biology and Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degrees, a Master’s degree in Internal Medicine, and an MBA in Healthcare Management. Whilst at UNZA, he served as Vice President of the students Union.

In his career, he has served as president of the Zambia Medical Association, a position he held for 2 terms. Some of his achievements include him institutionalising ZMA and moving it into an office. Under him, the institution bought its first vehicles. He ensured that the organisation had a great working relationship with the government to the extent that when the Republican President at the time, Mr Edgar Lungu suffered a medical emergency, he had a joint press briefing - with him to assure the nation that all was well.

In 2017, Dr. Mujajati was appointed as Health Professionals Council of Zambia Registrar. Under him, the breaking of ground for the construction of the HPCZ offices was done. 11 vehicles were bought, and the financial status of the organisation moved from K23 million to K70 million annually.

Under him, the time it used to take for one to sit on the specialist register was reduced from 2 years to just weeks. He argued that as long as a person had a degree, qualified, and met the criteria, there was no need to delay the process of one getting their medical practicing licence.

In an unfortunate turn of events, Dr. Mujajati was dropped as HPCZ CEO by then Health Minister Dr. Chitalu Chilufya and sent to head Ndola General Hospital, a position he refused to accept because he felt that he had been unfairly dismissed as HPCZ Registrar. He stayed home for a while to figure out what to do next, and during that period, he decided to use his Facebook page to raise awareness about different medical related matters. His page grew in leaps and bounds with many social media patrons flocking there to get insights on topics such as breast cancer, fistula, intersex, the importance of drinking water, and eating watermelons. Soon, Dr. Mujajati became a brand and was referred to as the celebrity doctor.

He later closed his car hire and used the money he had saved up to open his own practice, and that is how Carepeak Specialist Clinic was born. Dr. Mujajati also runs an insurance company aside from the clinic.

Dr. Mujajati is married to, Ushmaben Patel Mujajati, his wife, a Zambian medical practitioner of Indian descent. Together, they have 4 daughters. Dr. Mujajati is very intentional about managing his work and family time, ensuring that both aspects of his life get the necessary attention they require.

He is also a published author and has co-authored a book on medical law and ethics as well as research papers on topics such as AIDS associated with Kaposi’s sarcoma. When he is not working, he loves to paint and has done some amazing pieces of art.

Dr. Mujajati has, like many achievers, experienced failure in his life. He says he overcomes failure by not dwelling more than necessary on things that did not go well.

“When things don’t go well for me, I withdraw because I need time to analyse what has happened. I spend a lot of time analysing the situation until I figure it out. If I am the one in the wrong, I own up and take responsibility. Because look, life is too short and so we can’t keep dwelling on what didn’t go well. Because in my life, I have had few things that have gone well, and so I believe they need to be celebrated,” he says.

Asked what he wants his legacy to be. Without hesitation, he says, “If my children can say I was a good father, that is my deepest desire. I know that I’ve done my best in raising them. I just hope that my best has been good enough. For instance, I ask their teachers if my children are decent people. Do they allow others to speak knowing their turn will come too. Do they respect their teachers? Because it’s not just about them getting good grades but being good, decent human beings to others. That matters a lot,” he says.

“I spank my children if need be. I do not allow them to be rude to their teachers because if they can be rude to their teachers, they can also be rude to me and their mother,” he adds.

Dr. Mujajati has profound advice for young people: “Work hard - Be authentic and to thy self be true. Be honest and have integrity. Let your word be bold, it always pays off; Delay gratification; Be patient because great things don’t just mushroom overnight, they take time and patience,” he says.

“I, for one, do not have a personal car right now. That is because I don’t want to get just any car. I want to get my dream car, so I will wait till I am comfortably able to buy my dream car,” he says.

Asked about his dream car. He says with a smile, “I’ve always been a huge fan of the Mercedes Benz S Class. That is my dream car,” he adds.

Asked about his plans for the next 5 years, Dr. Mujajati says he will still be practicing medicine and has plans of expanding his clinic to other towns. He says his dream is to see Zambians have access to quality health care right here at home as opposed to them having to go and seek it outside and states that this is what Carepeak will achieve for its clients.