The Sunday News
GOVERNMENT has dismissed as false reports there were plans to terminate monthly payments for student nurses by June this year as a measure to cut down on the wage bill.
The Southern Eye, last month reported that a proposal had been brought forward by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care for Government to scrap payment of trainee nurses as part of austerity measures.
Although the chairperson of the portfolio committee Dr Ruth Labode could not confirm her committee having made the suggestion, the Southern Eye insisted that Government was considering implementing the proposal by mid-year this year.
The story sparked concerns and panic among student nurses across the country, with the Zimbabwe Nurses Association (Zina) saying it was against the proposal.
Zina president Mrs Regina Smith said that student nurses play a vital role in the health delivery system during their course of training, hence they should continue being paid for their services.
“I don’t know if this is the Government’s way of reducing numbers of people who are enrolled as student nurses. As an association we hope this will not be implemented because we’re totally against the decision,” Smith said.
Minister of Health and Child Care Dr David Parirenyatwa allayed fears of student nurses losing their allowances saying Government would continue paying student nurses as they were providing vital services to the health sector.
Dr Parirenyatwa said his Ministry would resist any attempt to stop payment of trainee nurses.
“No, we are resisting any attempts to remove allowances that go to student nurses. They are part of our workforce, they actually work in the hospital wards, and that should not be for free. They are providing vital services and they should get their allowances,” said Dr Parirenyatwa on the sidelines of the just ended 56th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF).
The Government’s 10 provincial and five central hospitals in the country train nurses, with each hospital admitting 30 students per each intake after Government reduced the figure from 60 students in 2013.
Government has also suspended the recruitment of health workers, a situation that has seen over 2 000 nurses remaining jobless after completing training.
At least 630 posts were declared vacant last year by Government, but the vacancies are yet to be filled as treasury is yet to give the Health Services Board (HSB) the go ahead to start recruiting.
The Health Services Board says in the meantime it would continue filling posts that would have been left vacant as a result of resignations, retirements, deaths and dismissals.
Meanwhile, the health Ministry has lamented the shortage of health personnel in the country’s hospitals and clinics saying the situation was working against efforts to fight HIV.
Deputy National ART Co-ordinator, AIDS and TB Unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Regis Choto said the nurse to patient ratio in some hospitals was worrying and affecting the delivery of health services.
Dr Choto made these remarks during the ZITF on Tuesday last week by the National Aids Council (NAC) in conjunction with the Employers Council of Zimbabwe (Emcoz).
“While we are trying to reduce the prevalence of the virus, there are, of course a number of factors that work against us. Shortage of health workforce comes as one of the challenges.
“There are situations where one nurse working at a rural clinic may attend to more than 50 patients in eight hours. Looking at the mathematics you will discover that the nurse patient ratio that we have is not proper.
“So it is imperative that nurses’ posts be unfrozen and we have more health workers come into the sector to increase efficiency in the delivery of health services,” he said.
Zimbabwe nurses establishment was last reviewed in 1983 and with the growth in population and increase in the number of health institutions, there is a possibility that the present establishment might now be strained.
The Health Services Board has been on record calling for the review of the nurses establishment, an exercise that however, requires resources.
