by Christopher Makaza
Acting Health and Child Care Minister, Professor Amon Murwira has urged nurses to prioritise lives of people and engage with their employer before engaging in industrial action.
Minister Murwira said this during a meeting with more than 400 suspended nurses at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital yesterday, who previously defied Government directive to resume normal working hours. The meeting was also attended by the hospital's Chief Executive Officer, Mr Christopher Pasi and Health Services Board Chairman, Dr Paulinors Sikhosana.
The Minister said he had received 458 letters of apology from the nurses who indicated their willingness to work in accordance with set guidelines. He said that the nurses should have opted for dialogue before engaging in the strike.
Minister Murwira said that he was now feeling embarrassed to preside over the issue of nurses as in July this year, he presided over a similar case where nurses promised to engage their employer. He said six months later, they had gone back on their word.
The Minister, however, highlighted that the Government was committed to improving the welfare of its workers and promised to forward the letters of apology to the relevant authorities. Professor Murwira advised the nurses to come up with one cover note and append individual signatures to confirm the apologies.
Dr Pasi revealed that 548 out of the 1200 nurses were suspended in October and their salaries were ceased in November. He said it was after the salary cessation that the nurses voluntarily returned to work. He said service delivery had since improved at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital.
The Government discarded the flexible working regime and increased duty hours for nurses to 40 hours per week and 548 nurses disobeyed the directive which resulted in them being struck off the pay roll.
The normal working hours were reintroduced in October this year since the flexible hours were presenting challenges which include lack of proper handover takeover and exaggerated shortage of nurses resulting in inadequate ward coverage and compromised quality of patient care.
Irvine Makuwarara, a representative of the suspended nurses apologised to the Minister for not adhering to the directive made by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary on the 26th of October saying the nurses were not enemies of the State, acknowledging that what they did was wrong and were now ready to engage the responsible authorities.
In an interview with this publication, a senior official with the hospital’s administration said that since of the appointment of Vice President Constantine Chiwenga as the Health and Child Care Minister, discipline has significantly improved at the hospital.
