By Watera Atai,
HARARE:
Zimbabwe has been hit by a huge exodus of health professionals amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 2,200 leaving to take jobs in the US, UK, Australia and neighbouring states, according to the government’s Health Service Board.
This is more than double the number of doctors, nurses and pharmacists who left last year, and three times the number that left in 2019.
Despite repeated government promises to improve wages they remain low. An average worker in the public sector takes homes less than $200 a month, while in the UK – which relaxed visa restrictions for health workers in 2020 – they can earn 10 times as much.
Officials say the exodus has affected an already fragile health system, which suffers from a lack of medical equipment and medicines.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a minimum of 23 doctors per 10,000 people, which Zimbabwe is far from meeting. When the last survey was done in 2015, there was an average of just 1.6 doctors per 10,000 people.
In October, the country’s health ministry approved the policy, Public Health Service aimed to extending Patriotism Courses for Zimbabwe Health Workers one of the mechanisms to stop brain drain.
According to Zimbabwe Information minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, Cabinet had approved a public health service orientation that will see health workers being taught patriotism to stop regular strikes and brain drain.
However the policy is seemingly failing implementation as a large number of heath workers continue dropping off government jobs to go for greener pastures in provate sectors and abroad.
