The Sunday News
Richard Muponde and Robin Muchetu
BRITAIN has lifted its ban on the employment of nurses from outside the European Union region, a move which is likely to work to the advantage of Zimbabwe as the country has over 1 500 unemployed nurses.
UK’s easing of the restrictive measures on non-EU nurses was a response to shortages of medical workers across its National Health Service (NHS). The move comes in the wake of the Zimbabwean Government’s pronouncement that it will soon start exporting thousands of nurses into the Sadc region and the Carribbean.
Zimbabwe recently completed crafting modalities for exporting nurses to other countries across the world and the Attorney-General’s office is seized with the matter. The country’s nursing schools continue churning out nurses, but failure by the Government to absorb all of them has left the new health workers struggling to get jobs.
Official statistics reveal that in 2010, only 374 nurses were employed from 1 516 trained while 607 got jobs in 2011 from 1 044 who trained and since then Government stopped employing nurses, rendering thousands jobless.
Currently, 1 579 nurses are unemployed and this year nursing schools have advertised to enroll more trainee nurses despite the dwindling job market. Zimbabwe had hoped to send its unemployed nurses to Swaziland, Lesotho, Trinidad and Tobago, under government-to-government agreements.
The Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr David Parirenyatwa, yesterday said the move was two-sided as it would come with positives and negatives.
“We have to look at how it impacts us as a nation. If done in a proper manner, we will benefit by exporting our personnel to the UK. We have many unemployed nurses here that can benefit from this and we will be glad if it is done in an orderly fashion,” Dr Parirenyatwa said.
He said the Ministry was willing to assist nurses that wanted to go and work abroad. Dr Parirenyatwa said Government was interested if the British were willing to also pay a stipend to Zimbabwe as the country trained the nurses and needs to benefit too.
However, he said if the lifting of the ban is done in a haphazard manner, Government is not prepared to export its nurses.
“If it is haphazardly done then we cannot afford to send our nurses where there will be poor living and working conditions. It will not benefit us at all. We have to see the environment in which they will operate under and do an evaluation,” he said.
According to media reports in the UK, the temporary rule change will mean that nurses from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) that apply to work in the UK will have their applications for nursing posts prioritised.
Anyone wanting to work in the UK as a nurse must register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). They can apply to be on the NMC Register, provided they meet its standards. The NMC will compare the training in their country with that required in the UK. The requirements for registration are different for nurses who trained in various parts of the world. Applicants must complete an online self-assessment of their eligibility to apply before beginning the application process. There are different fees for different stages of the application process which the prospective nurses should follow in the application and the subsequent training which is in three parts. For the application for nursing or midwifery, applicants should pay 140 pounds ($216,15).
After that they go for testing in two parts to check their level of competence. Part One of the test is a computer-based multiple-choice examination (CBT) which will be accessible in many countries around the world for applicants to access in their home countries and they pay 130 pounds ($200,71)
Part Two — is a practical objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) which will be held in the UK and nurses pay 992 pounds ($1 531,55) and admission on to the NMC register costs 153 pounds ($236,22). The total amount of all the processes is 1 415 pounds equivalent to $2 184,62
Beginning in 2000, as the economy took a nose-dive because of the illegal sanctions by the West, medical personnel — particularly nurses — left the country in search of better remuneration packages. This forced the Government to introduce bonding in 2007 to retain medical professionals to recoup the money used in their training. However, the idea to export the labour by the Ministry has also been said to be meant to re-coup funds used in training.
