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Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter
THE ongoing recruitment of nurses has reduced the healthcare burden at Bulawayo’s two major public health institutions, with authorities commending Government for giving them the greenlight to employ the professionals.

Treasury gave the Ministry of Health and Child Care permission to employ 2 250 nurses and doctors countrywide in phases starting in April.

The move also aims to create employment for qualified nurses who are out of work.

According to the ministry, more than 500 nurses were recruited and deployed through the Health Services Board (HSB) in April, with 400 more expected to be employed by the end of November, as Government moves to alleviate the shortage of nurses in the country.

Mpilo Central Hospital chief executive officer Mr Leonard Mabhandi said the institution had so far employed 42 nurses.

“We were for a start allowed to recruit 45 nurses, of which 42 have come. We’re still in the process of recruiting the other three. Although 45 is not a big number, we appreciate what the Government has done because this has improved the situation in terms of the number of nurses manning our wards, which is a good thing for our patients,” said Mr Mabhandi.

He said the hospital, which has 695 nurses, requires more health personnel as the hospital continues to grow.

“Originally, the establishment was only covering the main hospital but it has been growing over the years. When the paediatric and the maternity wards were established, we had to take nurses from the main hospital to work there and we were quite stretched.

“The more we expand the institution, the more challenges we have and the more health workers we need, including doctors, specialists and pharmacists. Now we have 695 nurses but for us to work with less pressure we need about 1 000 nurses,” said Mr Mabhandi.

He said besides the shortage of nurses, the hospital was facing other challenges which include shortage of resources and failure by patients to pay for treatment.

United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) chief executive officer Mrs Nonhlanhla Ndlovu yesterday said although they needed more nurses, the recent development has made a difference in service delivery.

“The recruitment is being done through HSB. We were given 20 names and we have so far recruited 14 nurses. This has made a difference in reducing the burden of taking care of the patients. We, however, still need 74 nurses,” said Mrs Ndlovu.

She said besides employing adequate nurses, it was important for the institution to be modified to suit the current disease burden.

“Even if we have enough nurses at the hospital, our establishment needs to be modified to accommodate the increasing number of patients that we receive. The disease burden has been worsening over the years,” said Mrs Ndlovu.

@pamelashumba1