George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
Government has started recruiting 150 new nurses in Masvingo, in addition to the 458 others who returned to work after applying for readmission following their dismissal for going on strike last week. All the dismissed nurses returned to work at hospitals and clinics across Masvingo this week and were conducting normal duties, while authorities were considering their applications for readmission.

Masvingo provincial medical director Dr Amadeous Shamu yesterday confirmed that all fired nurses were back at work while their applications for readmission were being considered.

“The situation has returned to normal at our hospitals and clinics across the province after all the 458 nurses who were fired, applied for re-admission and returned to work,” he said. “They are all at their previous work stations as I speak and they are working.

“‘We were advised to allow all the fired nurses who applied for re-admission to return to work while the employer considers their applications. A decision on their fate will be made while they are at work.”

Dr Shamu said recruitment of new nurses would help stem the shortage of health personnel across district hospitals and clinics in the province.

Some of the clinics and hospitals, particularly in remote parts of the province, were operating with skeletal nursing staff because of a Government freeze on recruitment of new personnel.

“We are in the process of recruiting 150 new qualified nurses and the majority of them will be deployed to district hospitals and clinics that are in need of staff,” said Dr Shamu. “Some of our health institutions were under-staffed and the new nurses will be very handy.”

Dr Shamu said the recruitment of new nurses would not impinge on the prospects of fired nurses who had applied for re-admission.

“We will deploy the newly recruited nurses to various districts depending on need,” he said. “We are hopeful that the new recruits will greatly reduce glaring staff shortages at some health institutions across the province.”

Among some of the health institutions hardest hit by nurses’ shortage was Chingwizi Clinic that caters for Tokwe-Mukosi flood victims who were resettled at Nuanetsi Ranch in Mwenezi and Chikombedzi Hospital in southern Chiredzi.

Government resolved to hire unemployed nurses and recall others who had retired to fill vacancies created by the sacking of thousands of nurses who sparked a health crisis at most of the country’s major health institutions after they went on strike demanding more money.

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