Ministry to appoint new hospital heads

GOVERNMENT will appoint substantive chief executives for the country's five major hospitals after settling issues with managers who were fired last July.

The Ministry of Health and Child Care last year fired five chief executives from the country's major hospitals as part of the health ministry's restructuring exercise.

The fired chief executives are Mrs Nonhlanhla Ndlovu who was heading United Bulawayo Hospitals, Mr Leonard Mabandi of Ingutsheni Central Hospital, Mr Ernest Manyawu of Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Dr Tinashe Dhobbie of Sally Mugabe Central Hospital and Dr Enock Mayida of Chitungwiza Central Hospital.

In an interview on Monday, Health Service Board chairman Dr Paulinus Sikosana said Government was finalising compensation funds for fired managers before recruiting substantive hospital CEOs.

"We had a restructuring of the Ministry of Health and Child Care that involved termination contracts of previous chief executive officers. We were waiting for Government to be able to give them their compensation in terms of remaining contract periods. That is almost done and once that is done it means that those CEO positions are now vacant and we can advertise," said Dr Sikosana.

He said the recruitment of the new chief executives will be determined by the time taken by Government to clear funds for the fired hospital bosses.

"I haven't put in a timeline because I have to check if Treasury has paid all the other CEOs so that their contracts would have been terminated completely and their benefits are paid," he said, while declining to reveal the total amounts being paid to fired hospital managers.