Government appreciates the critical role played by nurses in the health delivery system in light of emerging new diseases and the upsurge of Non-Communicable Diseases which are being treated in the health institutions country wide.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony of 223 nurses at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital, Health and Child Care Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora said the government is aware of the critical role nurses play in our health delivery system, all over the country especially given the challenges of shortages of resources, the emerging new diseases and the upsurge of Non- Communicable Diseases which are being treated in our health institutions country wide.
Dr Mombeshora underscored the need for well trained, knowledgeable, committed and skilled nurses and midwives.
“This can best be achieved by well trained, knowledgeable, committed and skilled nurses and midwives. It is a well-known fact that at any health institution the first medical professional who attends to patients and clients is the nurse. It is therefore very important that these cadres be well equipped with the knowledge and adequate skills to ensure that we have a healthy nation”, he said.
He underscored the need to review the conditions of service for health workers.
“The government approach is premised upon strengthening the health delivery system as part of the bigger civil service in Zimbabwe where treasury supports the review of health specific allowance that are now indexed against the United States dollar which means as the exchange rate moves these allowances self-adjust.
“Even the improvement of the work space, transport and accommodation for staff and the improvement of the capacity for post basic training in collaboration with the ministry, the recognition of staff as part of the system and the review of their salaries are some of the efforts that we have done to slow down the migration of our health workforce.
Speaking on the sidelines of the graduation ceremony, the Health Service Commission Acting Secretary, Mr Angelbert Mbengwa said the graduating nurses will go a long way in alleviating staff shortages.
“Certainly, the graduating staff will go a long way in alleviating staff shortages within our system and they will be distributed nationwide where there is a need.
“We also anticipate a situation where all institutions will produce at 100% of their capacity so that we have more health workers,” he said
The commission’s support for the production of staff is premised upon the creation and maintenance of a strong health service in terms of service delivery.
“We are cognisant of the fact that the training regulations particularly the nursing training regulations are administered by the Secretary for Health but we also support them as that is part of the health delivery system and it is linked to one of the pillars within the Human Resources for Health policy, a pillar which addresses the issues of training and production of health workers.
The Health Labour Market Analysis identified that as a country we are producing health workers at 75% of our current capacity which means any efforts to produce health workers is highly appreciated and celebrated. Not only the production of the Registered Nurses but also those that are specialising in the various areas of specialty whose graduation we witnessed inclusive of midwives, Operating theatre Nurses, Intensive and Coronary Care Nurses. We celebrate them because they are going to fill gaps existing in the system. Our presence at this graduation is to show support to the Ministry of Health and Child Care as the implementing arm of the health delivery system,” said Mr Mbengwa
A total of 137 Registered General Nurses, 66 Midwives, six Operating theatre Nurses, Five Intensive and Coronary Care Nurses and Nine Paediatric Nurses were conferred with Diplomas.
