Chronicle Editor
Judith Phiri, Sunday News Reporter
THE leadership in Tsholotsho District, Matabeleland North Province is appealing to Government to look into the recruitment of student nurses at the Tsholotsho District Hospital, in line with the devolution agenda.
They argue that locals should be given first preference. However, a Ministry of health official said trainee nurses were recruited from a central point and those from Tsholotsho could have been posted to other areas in the country.
Tsholotsho Ward 13, Councillor Mtshiso Ngwenya told Sunday News that there was a growing concern among the villagers that locals were failing to access training at the local health care facility.
“The intake for nursing last year did not go so well with most community members as most of the students who applied were turned down. What is worrying is that most of the student nurses last year were from other provinces,” said Clr Ngwenya.
However, Matabeleland North Provincial Medical Director Dr Munekai Padingani said the online application system was introduced to curb corruption.
“The country is trying to fight corruption where people were being given money to take people on board illegally.
Hence, to stop that nursing applications are now being done electronically. This also gives chance to everyone to apply all over the country,” said Dr Padingani.
He said network connectivity was a challenge in Matabeleland North and that was affecting locals who wanted to apply.
Clr Ngwenya said that raised alarm among the villagers.
“So now since the Ministry of Health and Child Care has advertised that there is an intake for nurses this year, as a councillor, children are crying out saying what is going on since Government has introduced the devolution agenda.
Are we not supposed to be given first preference in our district?”
He said of great concern was that most of the children would have passed from the local schools and have the necessary five ‘Ordinary’ level subjects including Mathematics, Science and English that are required for the intake.
Tsholotsho Rural District Council chairman, Councillor Esau Siwela said in line with the devolution agenda, they were in support of first preference being given to the locals.
Tsholotsho Acting District Development Coordinator Mr Aaron Gono said one of the contributing factors to locals failing to enrol could be the issue of internet connectivity since Government introduced online nursing applications.
“These applications are now being done online so you find out that due to issues of connectivity there are internet issues here in Tsholotsho. Since we do not even have a resource centre it becomes difficult for the students to access the internet,” said Mr Gono.
He said they were working with some organisations that work with the youths to come up with solutions on how best they could assist those who would like to apply and also facilitate to assist them have access to internet.
“A sustainable solution is worthy for us to push to have an information centre and the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) are aware because we once had some discussions with them,” he said.
Tsholotsho acting District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Mbonisi Nyathi said with the online portal, applications were now centralised.
“So you would find that someone from Tsholotsho can be thrown anywhere around the country. And someone from Manicaland can come to Tsholotsho. That’s how they structured it so it may be the case that villagers might not be aware,” said Dr Nyathi.
He said as a hospital they were no longer receiving applications, except for doing interviews of the shortlisted individuals released from that national portal.
“It’s a concern because we never get to know the outcome to say this person was recruited or not because you may see them here during application when they are seeking assistance on how the system works. Then you do not see them again and we suppose that they have been thrown somewhere so we never do those follow ups.”
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter