Desperation driving nurses to leave Zimbabwe

THE EDITOR, Madam:
Nurses in Zimbabwe are currently facing a severe crisis characterised by extremely low pay well below the poverty line, intense burnout, and challenging working conditions. Their wages are insufficient to meet basic living costs. Remaining staff face severe burnout. 
Many nurses are forced to cover doubled duties, with nurse-to-patient ratios rising to 1 to 20 or higher, far exceeding standard requirements. Hospitals in Zimbabwe lack basic medicine, equipment and personal protective equipment, making it difficult for nurses to work safely and effectively
To counter the mass exodus, the government has attempted to restrict the movement of healthcare workers, including initiatives to bond nurses for up to 20 years before they can work abroad. Additionally, nurses have complained about the withholding of ‘verification letters’, necessary for emigration.
Nurses have faced intimidation by the government when attempting to raise concerns or organise for better pay.  The impact on nurses, a combination of low pay and overwhelming workloads, has led to a collapse in morale, with many workers viewing their situation as unbearable. Many professionals feel undervalued, struggling to afford necessities like transport, food, and education for their children, despite being essential workers. Nurses are overworked and stressed
The remaining nurses in Zimbabwe are severely overworked, struggling to manage high patient volumes. Staff struggle to maintain order, without sufficient resources, which compromises patient care and fuels further resignations, poor working conditions, and limited career growth in Zimbabwe.
The clinics and hospitals are now taking on more students before they are qualified to cover the gap. It wasn’t always like this - public health facilities were once envied by other sub-Saharan African countries. 
But they disintegrated because of decades of under-investment.  
The country has been losing healthcare professionals to countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Brain drains are an ever-present challenge to the Zimbabwean public health sector. 
Government officials and the elite ZANUPF go out of the country to get treatments because they know the health sector is in tatters, in shambles. Zimbabweans are dying prematurely because of a lack of access to basic healthcare.  This petition is a call to action demanding that the government of Zimbabwe make basic healthcare accessible to all. 
The current administration should not act as if they are blind to see the apparent extensive damage that the country is going through. Their inabilities and incapacities are crystal clear, which eloquently means they should be dumped into the history dustbin.

MAUD BVUMBE
Human Rights Activist