Story by Abigirl Tembo, Health Editor
IN a bid to address growing discontent within Zimbabwe’s public health sector, the Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Douglas Mombeshora, on Friday visited Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals to engage directly with healthcare workers on pressing issues affecting their welfare and service delivery.
During the visit, Dr Mombeshora held a candid meeting with nurses, doctors, and hospital administrators following reports of dissatisfaction over remuneration, transport, accommodation, and working conditions.
“We have a lot of issues we want the government to address and this ranges from the issue of remunerations, accommodation and our welfare. We are struggling to feed our children and we want the government to intervene.
“We are patriotic Zimbabweans that is why we are still working in Zimbabwe but we want our working conditions to be improved. We would like to thank the minister for taking his time to come and listen to our grievances and we hope as per his promise they will be addressed soon” a nurse said.
Speaking after the meeting, Dr Mombeshora acknowledged the nurses’ concerns and affirmed the government’s commitment to addressing them through constructive engagement and policy reforms.
“This meeting was necessitated by the reports that I have received that there are certain grievances coming from the nursing community here at Parirenyatwa Hospital,” he said.
“They presented their grievances to the Chief Medical Officer and also to the Health Service Commission. But what I felt was that there was no adequate communication. I have an open door policy and I talk to everyone irrespective of rank and that’s exactly what I said I should do.
“That is why we came here and I am glad that we met with those people who are representing the nurses and we had a very open discussion listening to their grievances which are genuine, so we want to work towards addressing most of those grievances as much as we can.
“Basically, they are saying what they are earning is not enough and they are facing transport challenges and accommodation challenges they also raised some issues concerning their workplace environment and those were the main grievances that they talked about so we are looking at how we can deal with say the allowances to make sure that we can improve their earnings so that they are able to look after their families,” he said.
The minister’s interaction with hospital staff in various hospitals across the country has been widely regarded as a promising gesture of goodwill and a potential turning point in how the government responds to health sector challenges.
“The minister came to give us feedback on the grievances we had sent to our ministry. There were a number of challenges including shortage of hospital equipment sundries and drugs as well as dilapidated infrastructure as well as the issue of transport to ferry our workers to and from work. This is the first step taken by the minister to come on the ground and listen to our grievances and we are grateful,” a nurse said
The minister’s visit comes amid broader government efforts to reform and modernise Zimbabwe’s healthcare system. A recent highlight was the signing of a landmark health cooperation agreement between Zimbabwe and Belarus during President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s state visit to Minsk.
Under the deal, Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals will be among the first beneficiaries of a targeted transformation programme aimed at rehabilitating major health institutions, upgrading medical infrastructure, and deepening international partnerships in medical training and service delivery.
