New Zimbabwe qualified nurses fail to secure jobs

More than 850 state registered nurses, who graduated in August and December last year, are yet to be absorbed by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare but the Ministry of Finance is still insisting that treasury has no funds to cater for extra labour costs.

The number of nurses who were bonded by government but are jobless is now more than 1000 following the graduation of other nurses last month, adding to last year's over 850.

The responsible ministry is still engaging the Ministry of Finance for approval of new posts, having requested for the creation of at least 1600 new posts for the trained nurses to be absorbed into government institutions.

However, the Ministry of Finance is insisting that treasury cannot accommodate more nurses.    

Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr Douglas Mombeshora said the number of trained nurses shot up due to the training of primary care nurses who took up most of the state registered nurses positions in most rural hospitals.

"The situation has been worsened by the fact that more nurses completed their training last month in April and have joined the unemployed list. What is disheartening is that the affected nurses cannot seek employment in private institutions as they are bonded by government," said Dr Mombeshora.

Observers have noted that the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare should come up with a roadmap to assist the qualified nurses rather than hold on to their certificates while failing to provide employment for them.

Over the past years, the country lost thousands of trained health personnel to neighboring countries and overseas.