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Loveness Bepete Chronicle Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Nurses Association (Zina) has said government is coming up with strategies to absorb the more than 1,000 jobless nurses in the country. In an interview yesterday, Zina president, Regina Smith said the organisation is concerned with the high number of unemployed nurses in the country. She said, however, government was coming up with a strategy to increase health establishments in the country so as to absorb more nurses.

“For the first time, government is doing something to solve the issue of jobless nurses. More health institutions will be established so as to absorb these nurses,” she said.

Smith said Zina was against the government’s plans to terminate student nurses’ monthly payments.

She said that while on training, student nurses play a vital role in the health delivery system.

“I don’t know if this is the government’s way of reducing numbers of people who are enrolled as student nurses. As an association we hope this will not be implemented because we’re totally against the decision,” Smith said.

Meanwhile, Zina will this year honour black pioneering nurses and all retired nurses for their good work in the health delivery system.

Smith said the pioneer and retired nurses played a big role in defining nursing as a noble profession and inspiring locals to train as nurses before and after independence.

The first black nurses were trained in 1957 at Harare Hospital.

Smith said:

“We’re going to definitely honour the pioneering nurses and the retired ones.

“We will have a meeting with board members where we shall decide what we will give to our retired and pioneering members as a token of appreciation.”

Smith said the event to honour nurses would be held in November.

“We’re requesting the first group of black nurses who started training in 1957 and all retired nurses to contact us urgently on 04-700479 or report to their provincial offices where we will get some of the names from,” she said.

Smith said the good work of Zimbabwe’s first nurses and their retired colleagues needs to be appreciated as they helped people during colonial days.

She said retired nurses were last honoured in 2013 when they were given certificates as tokens of appreciation.