Henry Madzorera, the Health and Child Welfare delivered the morale-sapping news during a tour of the Gweru Provincial Hospital last week.
“We know about the need to improve the salaries and give workers more money,” Madzorera said. “We are moving towards that but we have not reached the desired stage.
“When we reach the desired stage our grading system will be corresponding to the salaries and will be happy.”Finance minister Tendai Biti set aside US$1,4 billion for civil service remuneration in this year’s budget, almost twice the US$773 million allocated last year.
But government has remained mum on salary increments. Salaries for health professionals are determined by the Health Services Board.
Madzorera said government was committed to improving the working conditions of health professionals. He said government also wanted to pay the workers on its own rather than relying on donors who cannot pay all the employees top up salaries.
