Zimpapers Logo

THE world on Tuesday commemorated the International Nurses’ Day, a day meant to reflect on the work these health workers are doing to service humanity. This year’s commemorations are unique in that the world is marking the day in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic which has claimed thousands of lives globally and has infected millions.

The nurses constitute the bulk of the frontline soldiers fighting the pandemic. It is the nurses complemented by other health workers that include doctors that are going beyond the call of duty at great risk to themselves and their families as they fight the Covid-19 pandemic and other diseases.

Many nurses spoken to on Tuesday said the nurses’ pledge reminds them of the need to service humanity hence many of them were risking their lives to attend to the sick. Nurses called on the members of the public to support them by adhering to lifestyles that do not compromise their immune systems. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) about 1 000 nurses have been infected by Covid-19 while on duty in Africa alone and more than 100 have died due to the pandemic worldwide.

These are frightening figures, but the world has not witnessed mass resignations of nurses from their jobs, a confirmation that these women and men are committed to paying with their own lives to service humanity. The world and respective nations therefore have an obligation to lessen the risk of these men and women by ensuring that they have adequate personal protective equipment (PPEs) and adequate resources to enable them to do their work.

In Zimbabwe we have heard of stories of Covid-19 frontline nurses and other health workers who are working without adequate PPEs and we want to implore the Ministry of Health and Child Care to prioritise the provision of PPEs.

Government has said as part of measures to contain the spread of the pandemic and also lessen the risk on health workers’ families, it was contemplating accommodating doctors, nurses and other health workers involved in the fight against Covid-19 in hotels. Vice President Kembo Mohadi who is also the chairperson of the Ad-Hoc Inter-Ministerial Committee on Covid-19, said there is a need to isolate doctors, nurses and other health workers by accommodating them in hotels so that they do not get back to their families where they risk infecting family members.

The Government should move with speed to conclude this good arrangement so that health workers’ families are protected.

We want at this juncture to salute our heroes who are in the trenches as we fight this devastating Covid-19 which has so far claimed four lives in Zimbabwe.