THE Health Services Board (HSB) has removed 1 032 defiant nurses from its pay sheets after they declined to resume normal working hours and insisted on either not working or working sharply reduced hours.
Besides not paying those who are not working, Information,
Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said after
yesterday’s Cabinet meeting that the board was now instituting disciplinary
hearings for at least 1 280 nurses, who have defied the call to return to
normal duties.
While a variety of penalties are possible in such hearings
depending on charges and circumstances, including dismissal, there have been
suggestions that some of these nurses could be placed on fixed-term contracts
if they return as part of a proposed restructuring of the public health sector.
It is understood the board has between 16 000 and 18 000
nurses in its employ, all those in the public sector, implying that less than 8
percent of the nursing staff will be affected by the twin developments.
HSB chairman Dr Paulinus Sikosana last night confirmed the
move not to pay nurses who are not working and the start of disciplinary
proceedings. Most of the affected nurses were on the staff of central
hospitals.
“We have removed 1 032 nurses from the pay sheet. They
defied a Government directive and we were left with no option,” said Dr
Sikosana.
Nurses had crafted a working schedule where they worked for
a few hours a week, but the arrangement proved unsustainable, especially with
the threat of Covid-19 continuing to hover over the country, resulting in
Government cancelling the plan and ordering a return to normal duty rosters.
Many nurses heeded Government’s call, but others have been
using their defiance to push for salary increments during ongoing negotiations
between nurses’ representatives and Government.
The resistance has largely been confined to central and
provincial hospitals, though very low numbers have not returned to normal duty
at provincial level.
Minister Mutsvangwa told journalists last night: “A total
of 1 280 nurses failed to heed to the call to return to normal working hours.
The Health Services Board has started instituting disciplinary hearings for the
defiant nurses.”
The restructuring of the nursing services being designed by
the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, which was reported by The Herald last
week, was also confirmed.
It was reported that nurses in the public sector are to be
held to high professional standards, with those who strike likely to be moved
from the permanent staff and having to reapply for fixed-term contracts should
they wish to resume work under a revamped nursing service.
“Nursing services be restructured to be supported by three
pillars, namely contract workers, Health Service Permanent Workers, and
Secondment from the Uniformed Forces,” said minister Mutsvangwa.
Under the exercise, the ministry is looking at having
around two-thirds of its nurses as permanent full-time staff, while the other
third will be on fixed-term contracts that can be renewed. The new structure is
expected to bring efficiency and encourage nurses to meet and uphold the
highest professional standards in the newly-streamlined Health and Child Care
portfolio now held by Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga. Nurses that have
been refusing to report for work, pressing for salary increments, will be
affected by this development.
Minister Mutsvangwa said Cabinet was briefed by Minister of
Health and Child Care Vice President Dr Chiwenga, who gave a report on the
withdrawal of labour by nurses.
“At its 38th meeting (of this year) held on 28 October
2020, Cabinet was informed that the Zimbabwe Nurses Association openly
challenged the Cabinet decision on the cancellation of the flexi-working
arrangement and defied the Secretary for Health and Child Care’s directive for
the association to reverse its statement.
“Cabinet resolved to cancel the flexi-hours arrangement,
that nurses who fail to report for duty be subjected to disciplinary processes,
and that daily attendance registers for nurses be submitted to the Health
Services Board and the Ministry of Health and Child Care head office,” she
said.
Minister Mutsvangwa said some nurses continued to defy
Government directive banning the flexi hours system although the Confederation
of Nurses Association, Theatre Nurses Association and the Nurses Educators
Association had all complied.
However, the Zimbabwe Nurses Association has defied
Government’s directive which has left authorities with no option, but to take
corrective measures on the delinquent nurses. Herald
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