Govt employs 2 000 more nurses

In an interview on the sidelines of the Gwanda Provincial Hospital nurses graduation ceremony last Friday, Health Services Board chairperson Dr Lovemore Mbengeranwa said the Government had made strides in improving health service delivery in the country.

“The Government has so far employed 2 080 nurses. Their names were approved in December last year but the recruited nurses started work on 1 April. The development is aimed at improving operations at our health institutions,” he said.

Dr Mbengeranwa said lack of funding negatively affected operations of the country’s health sector.
“The Government is committed to providing proper equipment to our health institutions but the main problem is that of lack of funding. Treasury has no funds,” he said.

The Gwanda Provincial Hospital has received five doctors.
However, despite the efforts to improve service in the health sector, corruption and negligence by some health staff has continued to dog some of the health institutions.

Asked to comment on reports of corruption and patients being neglected by staff at Gwanda Provincial Hospital, Dr Mbengeranwa said the board had not received any report concerning that.

“This has not been brought to our attention,” he said.
Meanwhile, speaking at the graduation ceremony, the Guest of honour, Matabeleland South Governor and Resident Minister Angeline Masuku commended the initiative by Government to employ more nurses.

“We thank the efforts by the Ministry (of Health and Child Welfare) for engaging more staffers into the health service. I would like to see a situation where a patient is given fair treatment regardless of the patient’s appearance or status in society,” she said.

Governor Masuku also lamented that Gwanda Provincial Hospital was being overwhelmed by patients.
She called for the construction of a bigger provincial hospital to cater for the growing population in the province.

Governor Masuku also challenged the business sector in the province to take a lead in the construction of a new provincial hospital.