THOUSANDS of healthcare workers who paid US$300 for verification letters needed to secure jobs outside the country have still not received the documentation as government tries to stem a damaging brain drain.
Critics say this is a deliberate move by the Health and
Child Care ministry to frustrate health workers trying to leave the country for
better-paying jobs elsewhere.
The letters are essential for work applications outside of
Zimbabwe, and confirm that the holder of a nursing certificate has qualified as
a nurse.
The Nurses Council of Zimbabwe (NCZ) is responsible for
registering the nurses.
A Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health recently
heard that approximately US$3,4 million may have been defrauded from thousands
of registered nurses who applied for Certificate of Good Standing and
confirmation letters from the NCZ.
Lucas Sharara, the chairperson of Zimbabwe Nurses
Association Harare, told the committee at a recent hearing that nurses who paid
for verification fees in 2020 were yet to receive the documents.
The responsibility for issuing the verifications was
shifted from the NCZ to the Health ministry’s head office.
Sharara estimated that between 11 000 and 11 600 nurses had
paid for verifications over the past two years.
This is amid claims that government continued to accept
payments for verifications despite being aware that the Health ministry was not
issuing the documents.
Sharara requested a parliamentary investigation into why
government was accepting payments without providing a service.
Health Committee chairperson Ruth Labode encouraged the
nurses to formally write to Parliament expressing concerns over the matter.
Health ministry spokesperson Donald Mujiri declined to
comment, referring questions to NCZ registrar Mercy Chaka, whose phone
continually rang unanswered.
According to the Health Services Commission, as of the end
of December 2022, more than 1 700 public hospital healthcare workers had left
the service last year.
In 2021, more than 2 600 health professionals left public
health service, with the majority seeking greener pastures in the United
Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada, among other destinations.
In 2018, Vice-President and Health minister Constantino
Chiwenga fired 16 000 nurses who had gone on strike for almost a week over poor
remuneration, accusing them of a “politically-motivated” walkout and vowing to
replace them with newly-trained and retired nurses.
The fired nurses responded by filing a court application to
force government to reverse its decision.
Chiwenga reversed the decision a few days later.
In 2019, at least 448 doctors were dismissed for not
reporting to work during a strike, but they were later admitted back into
service.
Recently, Chiwenga hinted at introducing a law to make it
illegal for foreign nations to hire the country’s healthcare workers.
In January, government, through an amendment to the Health
Service Act, banned public healthcare workers from striking for more than 72
hours.
Strikers face disciplinary action, while organisers of such
strikes can face imprisonment of up to six months, or both.
The amended laws have classified healthcare workers as
essential service providers like the police, military and prison services.
Essential service workers are not permitted to go on industrial action. Newsday
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