{"id":78050,"date":"2023-05-20T20:33:54","date_gmt":"2023-05-20T18:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents"},"modified":"2023-05-20T23:56:05","modified_gmt":"2023-05-20T21:56:05","slug":"govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents","title":{"rendered":"Govt withholds nurses\u2019 key documents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>THOUSANDS of healthcare workers who paid US$300 for verification letters needed to secure jobs outside the country have still not received the documentation as government tries to stem a damaging brain drain.<\/p>\n

Critics say this is a deliberate move by the Health and Child Care ministry to frustrate health workers trying to leave the country for better-paying jobs elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The letters are essential for work applications outside of Zimbabwe, and confirm that the holder of a nursing certificate has qualified as a nurse.<\/p>\n

The Nurses Council of Zimbabwe (NCZ) is responsible for registering the nurses.<\/p>\n

A Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health recently heard that approximately US$3,4 million may have been defrauded from thousands of registered nurses who applied for Certificate of Good Standing and confirmation letters from the NCZ.<\/p>\n

Lucas Sharara, the chairperson of Zimbabwe Nurses Association Harare, told the committee at a recent hearing that nurses who paid for verification fees in 2020 were yet to receive the documents.<\/p>\n

The responsibility for issuing the verifications was shifted from the NCZ to the Health ministry\u2019s head office.<\/p>\n

Sharara estimated that between 11 000 and 11 600 nurses had paid for verifications over the past two years.<\/p>\n

This is amid claims that government continued to accept payments for verifications despite being aware that the Health ministry was not issuing the documents.<\/p>\n

Sharara requested a parliamentary investigation into why government was accepting payments without providing a service.<\/p>\n

Health Committee chairperson Ruth Labode encouraged the nurses to formally write to Parliament expressing concerns over the matter.<\/p>\n

Health ministry spokesperson Donald Mujiri declined to comment, referring questions to NCZ registrar Mercy Chaka, whose phone continually rang unanswered.<\/p>\n

According to the Health Services Commission, as of the end of December 2022, more than 1 700 public hospital healthcare workers had left the service last year.<\/p>\n

In 2021, more than 2 600 health professionals left public health service, with the majority seeking greener pastures in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada, among other destinations.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Vice-President and Health minister Constantino Chiwenga fired 16 000 nurses who had gone on strike for almost a week over poor remuneration, accusing them of a \u201cpolitically-motivated\u201d walkout and vowing to replace them with newly-trained and retired nurses.<\/p>\n

The fired nurses responded by filing a court application to force government to reverse its decision.<\/p>\n

Chiwenga reversed the decision a few days later.<\/p>\n

In 2019, at least 448 doctors were dismissed for not reporting to work during a strike, but they were later admitted back into service.<\/p>\n

Recently, Chiwenga hinted at introducing a law to make it illegal for foreign nations to hire the country\u2019s healthcare workers.<\/p>\n

In January, government, through an amendment to the Health Service Act, banned public healthcare workers from striking for more than 72 hours.<\/p>\n

Strikers face disciplinary action, while organisers of such strikes can face imprisonment of up to six months, or both.<\/p>\n

The amended laws have classified healthcare workers as essential service providers like the police, military and prison services. Essential service workers are not permitted to go on industrial action.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. THOUSANDS of healthcare workers who paid US$300 for verification letters needed to secure jobs outside the country have still not received the documentation as government tries to stem a damaging brain drain. Critics say this is a deliberate move by the Health and Child Care ministry to frustrate health workers trying to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":78049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-78050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-africa-press","10":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","11":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nGovt withholds nurses\u2019 key documents - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THOUSANDS of healthcare workers who paid US$300 for verification letters needed to secure jobs outside the country have ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Govt withholds nurses\u2019 key documents\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THOUSANDS of healthcare workers who paid US$300 for verification letters needed to secure jobs outside the country have ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-20T18:33:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-20T21:56:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/05\/sm_1684603384.957212.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents\",\"name\":\"Govt withholds nurses\u2019 key documents - zimbabwe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/05\/sm_1684603384.957212.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-20T18:33:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-20T21:56:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\"},\"description\":\"THOUSANDS of healthcare workers who paid US$300 for verification letters needed to secure jobs outside the country have ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/05\/sm_1684603384.957212.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/05\/sm_1684603384.957212.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Govt withholds nurses\u2019 key documents\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Govt withholds nurses\u2019 key documents\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\",\"name\":\"zimbabwe\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Govt withholds nurses\u2019 key documents - zimbabwe","description":"THOUSANDS of healthcare workers who paid US$300 for verification letters needed to secure jobs outside the country have ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Govt withholds nurses\u2019 key documents","og_description":"THOUSANDS of healthcare workers who paid US$300 for verification letters needed to secure jobs outside the country have ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents","og_site_name":"zimbabwe","article_published_time":"2023-05-20T18:33:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-20T21:56:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/05\/sm_1684603384.957212.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents","name":"Govt withholds nurses\u2019 key documents - zimbabwe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/05\/sm_1684603384.957212.jpg","datePublished":"2023-05-20T18:33:54+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-20T21:56:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4"},"description":"THOUSANDS of healthcare workers who paid US$300 for verification letters needed to secure jobs outside the country have ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/05\/sm_1684603384.957212.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/05\/sm_1684603384.957212.jpg","width":800,"height":500,"caption":"Govt withholds nurses\u2019 key documents"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/govt-withholds-nurses-key-documents#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Govt withholds nurses\u2019 key documents"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/","name":"zimbabwe","description":"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}