Government reacts to nursing shortage

Zimbabwe has responded to a chronic nursing shortage with the re-introduction of primary health care workers in provincial hospitals who would be “bonded” for a minimum of three years’ service, Health Minister Timothy Stamps told IRIN. He said an extra 309 nurses were graduated last year to fill the professionally less demanding posts, and they would be required to work for three years - equivalent to their training period - before they would be allowed to quit government service. According to Stamps, 193 nurses left the public sector last year, and at least 25 died - the majority due to AIDS-related causes. The minister said Zimbabwe was not alone in the region in suffering a brain drain of health professionals to more rewarding posts abroad. “The fundamental problem is the dearth of English-speaking health workers internationally,” Stamps noted. An ageing population in the West, combined with the more demanding training schedules of modern medicine, meant shortages of medical staff were being filled by professionals from Africa demoralised by their conditions of service at home. Stamps acknowledged the “hopelessness of nursing” under conditions of drugs shortages, poor facilities, lack of doctors and the AIDS pandemic. He said governments had “repeatedly exploited” the loyalty and commitment of nurses, and the “abuse has reached a pitch where the reaction has been to strike”. He said the government’s “mistake was to eliminate middle-level nurses” and was now trying to re-establish primary healthcare workers. “You don’t need highly-trained nurses for everything,” he pointed out.