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Thandeka Moyo, Health Reporter
GOVERNMENT has finally started recruiting 2 000 nurses in a move that will reduce the number of qualified nurses who do not have jobs in the country by half.

In a statement yesterday, the Health Services Board (HSB) said nurses would be recruited in three batches, this month, in July and in September this year.

The HSB said nurses seeking employment must be registered with the Nurses Council of Zimbabwe.

The recruitment of nurses follows Treasury’s approval to lift a job freeze in the health sector.

“The Health Services Board as the employer of Public Health Workers has begun deploying Registered General Nurses within the Health Sector. The deployment will be in three phases, with the first group on nurses assuming duty in April, the second on July 1 and the final in September this year.

“The board in line with its mandate to appoint persons to offices, posts and grades in health services deploys nurses according to the years they completed training, with those who graduated earlier being deployed first. In deployment, efforts are made to deploy nurses according to their preferred provinces.

Nurses seeking employment should be duly registered with the Nurses Council of Zimbabwe.”

The HSB warned nurses against entertaining bogus recruitment agencies. “We therefore would like to advise the public that the Board and the Ministry remain the sole recruiting authorities for public health workers at no fee. Prospective health workers should therefore not pay to be employed in the Public Health Sector,” reads the statement.

“Furthermore, the board would like to advise members of the public that it does not make communication through social media platforms.”

Last month, Zimbabwe Nurses’ Association secretary general Mr Enoch Dongo said the country has a shortfall of 8 500 nurses.

— @thamamoe