Zimbabwe clinics struggle for nurses after exodus to UK

HARARE— Health clinics in Zimbabwe are facing a crisis as increasing numbers of nurses leave the country in search of better prospects.

Twelve nurses left last month alone. Most of them are going to the UK or Ireland, others to Zimbabwe’s neighbouring countries or to the private sector.

The UK has been on a recruitment drive for medical professionals to plug its own staff shortages due to the impact of the pandemic and Brexit.

Zimbabwe has long underpaid its public sector workers. Nurses employed by the city council earn slightly more than those working in government hospitals.

But in both cases, the nurse on the lowest salary takes home less than $200 a month, just enough to cover the rent for a two-bedroom house in a low-income neighbourhood, but not much else. And they are fed up.

The state Health Service Board says that just over 2,200 medical personnel left its services last year alone: 900 of them were nurses.

This was double the number of staff who left in 2020 and triple that of 2019.

So what’s it like for the nurses who do settle in the UK?

A male nurse who has been there since last July spoke with a sense of accomplishment that he now earns about 10 times what he did in Harare, even though British nurses have low pay relative to other professions in the UK.

The money he sends back home goes a long way. He can afford to send his children to boarding schools in Zimbabwe and support relatives in a difficult position.

He has no plans to return any time soon.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK