Nurses in Zimbabwe’ Public hospitals have resolved to report for duty two or three times a week owing to the challenges the country is facing. High transport costs and low pay are some of the problems cited by the nurses in coming to this drastic measure. Nurses are engaged in ongoing talks with the government.
In an interview with the Daily News, Zimbabwe Nurses Association secretary-general Enock Dongo said,
We have agreed, as a temporary measure, that nurses should come to work for two days per week, as we are still negotiating with the government to address our concerns.
We are following procedures and we have had two meetings now and we are only left with one which will determine the way forward.
We are saying the money is no longer enough with the peak of the cost of living and bus fare.
The five days off will work as a temporary solution as our nurses are struggling to come to work due to bus fare hikes. It’s no longer a ministerial problem but a national challenge.
We are also engaging with other civil servants like the teachers because in January schools are going to open and we have a crisis.
We had asked the government to pay us in US dollars which is a viable solution and they said they did not have US dollars.
That’s 8 days a month.What a shame!