Source: Govt prioritises long-serving nurses in verification process -Newsday Zimbabwe
GOVERNMENT prioritises nurses who have served for 15 years in processing verification letters as part of efforts to reform the system and address long-standing grievances within the health sector.
This comes after the government has been withholding verification letters, which are essential in international job applications for nurses, despite collecting over US$3 million from the health professionals to process the key documents.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe Nurses Association’s annual general meeting in Masvingo recently, Health and Child Care deputy minister Sleiman Kwidini said the ministry had started issuing verification letters.
He said the government was, however, focusing on long-serving health workers as it works to clear the backlog.
“We have started issuing verification [letters], but we are giving maximum respect to the people who have served in the ministry for a long time, to say 15 years, you can go,” Kwidini said.
He said the government was formulating a new policy to make the verification process transparent and fair.
“We are coming up with a policy where everyone will benefit. Once you complete your bonding, you will automatically get your verification. By that time, we will have trained more nurses, and by then, no one will have a problem with the government,” Kwidini said.
He said corruption had affected the process, with some nurses obtaining certificates of good standing before completing their bonding period.
“Because of this thing called money, it has turned everything into corruption. The Nurses Council of Zimbabwe was releasing certificates to people who had not completed bonding, which is why we took over the verification process,” Kwidini said.
He cautioned nurses against leaving the country without the required paperwork, adding that those who did so were facing challenges abroad.
“We want to protect this profession and also protect you. I’m saying this because in my office, I have been receiving calls…some have left the country without proper paperwork and when they get there, they will be deceiving you on TikTok, and then you think everything is gold on that side.
Some are having depression and other diseases that are stressing them because right now the UK is having problems with foreign nurses and they are now thinking of coming back home.
“They are now begging to be put at Parirenyatwa Hospital, but we prioritise nurses who are patriotic, who remain in the country.”
More than 6 000 nurses have paid US$300 each to the Nurses Council of Zimbabwe for verification letters, but many are yet to receive them.
Government has been accused of deliberately blocking nurses from leaving the country in a bid to halt the worsening exodus of healthcare professionals from the country’s overburdened health system.
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