Chronicle EditorPaidamoyo Chipunza Senior Health Reporter—
Government should decentralise nurse training institutions to district hospitals and impose training quotas for locals to curb brain drain from rural areas, the Health Professions Authority (HPA) has said.HPA president Mr Adolf Macheka recently, said health personnel tended to shun rural areas in favour of urban settings, while those in urban areas preferred foreign destinations. He said both scenarios could be contained by introducing quotas to retain personnel in areas where they were needed most.
“Decentralisation of the location of training institutions, introduction of recruitment quotas to ensure that rural areas are represented in training institutions and making rural field experience during health training compulsory, can develop and foster an interest among health workers to work in rural areas,” said Mr Macheka.
He said Government must also consider paying a rural allowance and establishing locum relief schemes for those working in rural areas as a way of attracting personnel.
“Other strategies that can be used to improve uptake of rural health posts include continuing health education using distance-learning methods such as information technology, offering generous end-of-service payments, subsidised house owning schemes or allocation of housing stands,” said Mr Macheka.
He said the issue of international migration was a topical issue at international level and HPA was picking guidelines on how it could be addressed to strike a balance.
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