500+ nurses recruited, deployed, says Parirenyatwa

THE Ministry of Health and Child Care recruited and deployed more than 500 nurses last month with 400 more expected to be employed by the end of November, as Government moves to alleviate the shortage of nurses in the country.

The move also aims to create employment for qualified nurses who are out of work.

Treasury gave the Ministry of Health and Child Care the green light to employ 2 250 nurses and doctors starting last month.

Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa yesterday said the Health Service Board has started recruitment.

“The HSB, as the employer of public health workers recruited more than 500 registered general nurses last month after the Ministry of Finance gave us the green light to deploy 2 000 nurses and 250 doctors.

“The deployment is in three phases. The first group assumed duty last month and the second group is expected to start in July. The third group will be deployed by the end of November and this should bring the number to 900 nurses,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.

He was speaking at the International Nurses’ Day commemoration held in Bulawayo. The event was held under the theme “A voice to lead-achieving the sustainable development goals.”

He said the deployment will continue next year until the ministry has recruited 2 000 nurses.

The minister added that the ministry has tasked the HSB to make sure that the recruitment of the nurses is done in a professional and systematic manner.

“We have nurses who have not been absorbed into the system, with some of them having graduated in 2010. We have therefore directed the HSB to make sure that the recruitment starts with those with older certificates for the purposes of fairness.

“We don’t want to see nurses who graduated in 2016 being deployed ahead of nurses who graduated back in 2010,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.

Dr Parirenyatwa said more than 4 200 nurses are unemployed while the health ministry requires 8 000 more nurses to meet growing demand for health services.

He added that 14 982 nurses are employed in the country with 3 452 midwives and 273 theatre nurses.

Government froze recruitment of nurses in 2011 to contain a ballooning wage bill, a situation that led to critical shortages of staff in hospitals mainly in rural areas.

The shortage of health workers has compromised the country’s health delivery system, which is also threatened by a number of challenges among them a shortage of drugs and critical equipment.

The International Nurses’ Day, which has been observed worldwide since 1965 and officialised in January 1974 by International Council of Nurses, is commemorated each year to recognise the important contribution nurses make in the world towards a healthy society. It is also the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, who is known as the “mother of nursing.”

The event was attended by Government officials, senior officials from Zimbabwe Nurses’ Association and health institutions. — @pamelashumba1.