Own Correspondent|President Emmerson Mnangagwa has emerged victorious in the chaos at public hospitals after he managed to get key personnel in the form of doctors and nurses clashing against each other.
The health sector has for the last year been heavily crippled as both n doctors and nurses engaged in massive industrial actions calling for better salaries and working conditions.
In solving the disputes, Mnangagwa managed to separate the two groups and held separate negotiations between them.
He deliberately allowed nurses to work for three days a week as a means of cushioning them. Doctors were denied the same privilege instead got themselves a hefty salary increase plus a supplement from Strive Masiyiwa’s Higher Life Foundation.
Nurses have since demanded that government also brings down to them the Masiyiwa benevolence allowances.
A fact-finding visit to Harare’s two biggest hospitals by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health yesterday exposed the acrimonious working relations between the nurses and doctors who traded accusations of absenteeism and indolence before stunned lawmakers.
At Sally Mugabe Central Hospital (formerly Harare Central Hospital), the two parties issued conflicting statements on the status of the machinery that was recently imported from India, with doctors claiming that most of it was not functional while nurses said the opposite.
At Sally Mugabe Central Hospital, nurses and doctors clashed over flexible working hours that were introduced, resulting in nurses working between two and three days a week.
Doctors said the system was presenting challenges as there was a time when patients were left unattended.
Nurses, on the other hand, accused doctors of not working hard, but leaving most of the work to them.
They said doctors were supposed to work for eight hours, but most of the times they were not available and nurses had resorted to calling them whenever there was an emergency.
Tempers flared as staff held different views over the equipment imported from India.
Doctors said the equipment was not functional, while nurses said they were using the machines.
Hospital chief executive officer Dr Tinashe Dhobbie said the arrangement for nurses to work less hours was not sustainable.
“We want to lobby Parliament so that we can get more money and resources. The flexible hours are not what we want. We are relying on the system as we wait for things to improve. I hope fundamentals are going to be addressed soon so that we have smooth transition from one nurse to another,” he said.
Parirenyatwa chief executive Mr Enock Manyawu said he would take into consideration the suggestions that came up during the meeting for the smooth running of the institution.
Senior staff at Parirenyatwa expressed concern over the deterioration of working conditions and said it was worrying that the institution was training specialist nurses who were leaving the country.
Senior Government officials that were present ended up calling on stakeholders in the health sector to join hands and come up with sustainable solutions to challenges facing the industry.