HEALTH SECTOR: One step forward, two steps back

10 Aug, 2014 - 06:08 0 Views
HEALTH SECTOR: One step forward, two steps back Thousands of Nurses are unemployed due to government post freeze - Picture by Kudakwashe Hunda

The Sunday Mail

Thousands of Nurses are unemployed due to government post freeze - Picture by Kudakwashe Hunda

Thousands of Nurses are unemployed due to government post freeze – Picture by Kudakwashe Hunda

The migration of skilled and experienced health personnel to other countries has over the years been blamed on low salaries and poor working conditions locally, and experts say the Staff-Monitored Programme (SMP) adopted by Government to cut spending two years ago could be a new push factor.

The SMP was approved by the IMF’s management in June 2013 through an understanding with Government to put public finances on a “sustainable” course through freezing public sector recruitment.

According to a letter jointly written to IMF managing director Ms Christine Lagarde by Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangundya on July 1, 2014, Government will maintain the freeze in all departments including the health sector.

“We will maintain the hiring freeze in Government which started in July 2012, while allowing some limited flexibility in filling critical vacancies that cannot be filled through internal mobility,” reads the letter.

As a result, 400 nurses and doctors posts countrywide were frozen despite the fact that the country’s public health system has a 2 500 staff deficit.

Zimbabwe’s doctor to patient ratio, estimated to be 1:8 000, is well above the 1:500 recommended by the World Health Organisation.

According to reports, most hospitals in the country are compelling nurses to attend up to 20 patients while the ratio is supposed to be one nurse per patient.

While cost-cutting brings relief to the country’s economy, public health also has a direct influence to macro-economic performance.

Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa shares this view, and said despite the freeze President Mugabe had directed that health recruitment be unfrozen.

“We are very happy that our vacant posts in the ministry, including those of nurses, have been unfrozen,” he said. “The President himself made the call and announced that the posts have been unfrozen, particularly in the health sector.

“There is no going back on that and we would not want a situation where some people become defiant, saying the President has announced it, but we cannot go ahead and start recruiting.

“We are going to start advertising our vacant posts and recruit. We have over 2 500 trained nurses who are still unemployed.”

Public health expert Dr Ferdinand Mabvira said Government had contradicted its efforts to curb brain drain by freezing posts in the health sector.

“What the President did (unfreezing health posts) just shows you how a good leader and visionary he is,” he said.

“Otherwise Government was contradicting its efforts to curb brain drain because we can’t complain that our people are going to work in other countries while we are freezing employment opportunities.”

Still on brain drain, Dr Mabvira said, “For some time we have been talking about increasing salaries and improving conditions but that too seems to have failed because as a country we are not capable of paying huge salaries.

“We already have a bonding system with our nurses but I think that policy can be improved to preserve the skilled personnel that we have in the country.”

Another expert, Dr Douglas Gwatidzo, said opening another medical school in Midlands would help address Zimbabwe’s doctor shortage.

“In order to get a fully qualified doctor, input on a single subject and/or topic has to come from several players who will ensure that as much content as is possible is covered. This is a requirement from the start to the end. The institution that offers such training must be attached to a tertiary hospital with all the departments in place to ensure the candidates get the necessary exposure.

“The four institutions that have such facilities are Harare and Parirenyatwa hospitals in Harare and Mpilo and United Bulawayo hospitals in Bulawayo. Chitungwiza Central hospital is almost there in terms of meeting that requirement. The whole of Midlands does not have a hospital of the calibre required.”

The comments follow Midlands State University Vice Chancellor Professor Ngwabi Bhebhe’s announcement that plans to establish a medical school at the institution were underway, with assistance from the University of Zimbabwe.

Research shows that the number of doctors migrating to America exceeds the total number of physicians in Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe combined.

Studies, however, suggest that brain drain could be a blessing in disguise for African countries as the more migrants move, the more they increase imports in their home countries.

This view has been backed by the hope that African migrants can create more than US$1 billion in additional exports for Africa yearly.

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