Exodus of Zimbabwean nurses to Western countries leaves health system reeling

By John Cassim

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AA) - Zimbabwe is witnessing an exodus of highly skilled nurses to countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia leaving local hospitals in shambles.

The shortage of nurses in Zimbabwean hospitals is said to have reached alarming levels, with each nurse now attending to at least 34 patients instead of four under normal circumstances.

The pressing problem was revealed by several nurse associations ahead of World Nurses Week, which is commemorated every year from May 12-18.

“Nurses are indeed leaving the country for the UK in most cases and it looks as if the exodus is worse now than before.

"The gap these highly skilled nurses are creating will take decades to fill and the impact will be felt by ordinary citizens very soon,” Zimbabwe Nurses Association's (ZINA) head Enock Dongo told Anadolu Agency.

- Poor working conditions

Nurses, however, state they choose to leave the African nation due to poor working conditions.

“I wish we could just celebrate our dedication, our sacrifice, our commitment, and our effort as nurses especially during this COVID-19 pandemic, during this nurses week, but we can’t because most of our members are either struggling to survive in the country or leaving owing to poor working conditions,” said Simbarashe Tafirenyika, the head of the Zimbabwe Urban and Rural Council Workers Union.

A visit to two major hospitals in the country, Sally Mugabe and Parirenyatwa, revealed shocking details.

At Sally Mugabe, nurses who spoke on condition of anonymity, alleged their training school was seriously short-staffed.

“The situation at this hospital is now dire, most senior nurses who are mentors and tutors, have left. As I speak to you, the graduating student nurses performed dismally owing to the shortage of tutors,” a nurse at Sally Mugabe told Anadolu Agency.

She further said, “not only has the training school been affected but even in the hospital wards there is now a serious shortage of nurses, such that mothers are giving birth on the floor, no one is attending to them, leading to the high mortality of the babies in the maternity wards, lately.”

To confirm, Anadolu Agency visited the mortuary where indeed records proved nine babies had been booked into the morgue in a space of two nights.

The mortuary attendant who was on duty on the day also confirmed the hospital is now recording high child mortality.

“All of a sudden, we are booking an increased number of bodies of babies from the maternity wards, I can’t confirm the causes of the deaths but I can confirm there is a serious shortage of nurses there,” the attendant said.

- Better salaries

At Parirenyatwa Hospital, the situation was the same with nurses complaining of working without medical sundry.

“It is disheartening knowing you are going to work and supposed to save lives yet there is nothing you can do because you just do not have medicines to treat even the simplest disease.

"This is the reason several nurses are leaving the country mostly to the UK, for better salaries plus a working environment that is stress-free,” another nurse at Parirenyatwa said.

Anadolu Agency visited the Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare where a senior nurse was going to take a flight to settle abroad permanently.

“I am happy I am leaving, at last. The conditions in Zimbabwean hospitals are deplorable and heartbreaking, especially during this COVID-19. I took advantage of the huge demand for specialized nurses in the UK and I got visas for myself and my two children aged 11 and 5,” she said.

While it is every nurse’s dream to leave Zimbabwe and work in countries with better working conditions, the process is neither easy nor cheap.

“To deter nurses from leaving the country the Zimbabwean government recently decided to bond all nurses for a period of three years, however, this is still not stopping the human resource bleeding,” Dongo stated.

“To show that nurses are indeed determined to leave, most of those going to the UK are not even resigning from their work, they are even forfeiting their terminal benefits as they would be earning at least $3000 per month there, compared to $60 back home,” Tafirenyika said.