VICE-PRESIDENT Constantino Chiwenga has said Government is committed to improving conditions of service for its workers.
VP Chiwenga, who is also Health and Child Care Minister, on Saturday toured a Covid-19 isolation centre at Zimbabwe Aids Project (ZAP) Clinic in Victoria Falls where he commended health staff for “the good work” they have been doing since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Health workers had declared incapacitation on June 18 as they downed tools but reversed their decision early this month after engagement with the VP.
They returned to work following a decision by their representative body — the Zimbabwe Nurses Association (Zina) to give dialogue a chance.
Speaking to health staff at ZAP Clinic and Hwange District Medical Officer Dr Fungai Musinami-Mvura soon after the tour of the facility, VP Chiwenga said negotiations between Government and workers’ representatives are underway as he reiterated Government’s commitment to improving conditions of service for its workers.
He commended the work of health workers.
“Keep up the good spirit and that’s what we want. But as regards your conditions of service something is happening. I will not tell you the percentage we have given you but you will see once negotiations are over. But we expect you to work the same way you have been working,” said VP Chiwenga in a brief chat with staffers at the facility.
During the tour he said he was impressed by the facility, which is one of the two isolation centres in Victoria Falls, the other one being Mkhosana Clinic.
ZAP isolation centre has eight rooms and a capacity of 16 patients. The facility was furnished by the Victoria Falls business community with the help of Oak Foundation in United Kingdom, working with Victoria Falls based Jafuta Foundation.
It has a portable X-ray machine, a portable ventilator, blood gas analyser, a GeneXpert machine, water iodiser and a hood among other equipment sourced for fighting Covid-19.
The equipment will also be handy post Covid-19 as it will be used to provide the much-needed service in Hwange district especially for tuberculosis and HIV and Aids patients as well as attending to fractures.
Earlier in the day, VP Chiwenga had toured Victoria Falls International Airport where he was also impressed by its readiness to receive tourists after all Covid-19 health protocols have been put in place.
The VP said Government wants all frontline workers at ports
of entry to have personal protective equipment. Chronicle
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