Unemployed nurses are still failing to get jobs despite an announcement by the government that it had opened up all the nursing posts.
By Our Correspondent
There are over 2 500 trained nurses who are unemployed after the government stopped employing them citing budgetary constraints.
Health and Child Care minister, David Parirenyatwa however said recently that nursing posts had been unfrozen, meaning that unemployed nurses would be taken into government employ.
But this does not seem to have happened as many nurses said in recent interviews that they were still sitting at home doing nothing.
“We don’t know what’s happening because when we went to the provincial offices looking for jobs, the officials said they were yet to get a go ahead to recruit,” said Leslie Moyo, from Bulawayo.
Another graduate, who identified himself just as Rodrick, said he had been to the Ministry of Health offices in Bulawayo several times seeking for employment without success.
“We are confused because the government said the jobs have been unfrozen but the officials at the ministry keep telling us to come next time,” said Rodrick.
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Parirenyatwa however confirmed in a recent interview that government had indeed opened up the posts.
“The posts were unfrozen. It’s now a matter of trying to identify where the vacancies are and how to distribute the resources that are available,” said the minister.
He said it was now up to the responsible institutions to put their houses in order before they recruited.
“It’s now left with the institutions but at policy level, we have unfrozen the posts,” said the minister.
Every year, hundreds of nurses graduate from training institutions countrywide but struggle to secure employment. The job freeze policy, which was effected in 2010, has affected the health delivery system amid revelations that most hospitals and clinics are now run by students.
Mpilo and UBH serve as major referral health centres for hospitals in the country’s Southern Region that encompasses Masvingo, Gweru, Victoria Falls, Gokwe and Beitbridge.
