News / National
Lifeline for jobless nurses
11 May 2016 at 01:47hrs | Views
Thousands of jobless nurses would soon be employed as government has revised staff establishment figures.
Health minister Davd Parirenyatwa said the revised staff establishment would absorb all the unemployed nurses and there would be room to employ 5 000 more, he told the Herald.
He said currently, an estimated 3 500 nurses were unemployed.
"We have established what we actually need because all that was being done all along was establishing the number of vacancies in already existing posts.
"Now we are projecting on what we actually need (versus the growing burden of care) as a country," said Parirenyatwa.
"We are now saying that the establishment is too small and the latest establishment shows how many nurses are needed to top up. For example, Masvingo General Hospital has 188 nurses, but we want 40 more nurses to top up so that we meet the recommended patient-nurse ratio," said Parirenyatwa.
The ideal nurse-patient ratio is one nurse per every four patients, but in Zimbabwe one nurse attends to at least 15 patients at any given time, compromising the quality of health services rendered.
However the revised nursing establishment does not have a specific number of posts for specialised nurses such as midwives, a situation midwifery tutors described as an injustice to maternal health delivery in the country.
Health minister Davd Parirenyatwa said the revised staff establishment would absorb all the unemployed nurses and there would be room to employ 5 000 more, he told the Herald.
He said currently, an estimated 3 500 nurses were unemployed.
"We have established what we actually need because all that was being done all along was establishing the number of vacancies in already existing posts.
"Now we are projecting on what we actually need (versus the growing burden of care) as a country," said Parirenyatwa.
"We are now saying that the establishment is too small and the latest establishment shows how many nurses are needed to top up. For example, Masvingo General Hospital has 188 nurses, but we want 40 more nurses to top up so that we meet the recommended patient-nurse ratio," said Parirenyatwa.
The ideal nurse-patient ratio is one nurse per every four patients, but in Zimbabwe one nurse attends to at least 15 patients at any given time, compromising the quality of health services rendered.
However the revised nursing establishment does not have a specific number of posts for specialised nurses such as midwives, a situation midwifery tutors described as an injustice to maternal health delivery in the country.
Source - Herald
