Zimbabwe June 2005 |
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| State extends bonding of health professionals, (The Herald, 2005-06-28):-Government has extended bonding of health professionals to include environmental health technicians in a bid to thwart their exodus from the country. While environmental health practitioners (EHPs) are not leaving in alarmingly large numbers, Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa said there was need to ensure that newly qualified EHPs stayed in the country. "We want to bond them just like we are doing with the doctors and nurses. The same number of years they are trained for should be the same number of years they serve before they can leave our employment," he said. Dr Parirenyatwa was speaking at the inauguration of the Environmental Health Practitioners Council in Harare last week. While bonding had been in effect for some time, it was not really effective in stemming the movement of Zimbabwean Health Professionals to other countries. "For that reason we should consider holding onto the EHPs' certificates until after their period of bonding is completed. What this means is that one finishes their training but is not given their certificate until they have served the country for the same number of years that the country would have trained them for," said Dr Parirenyatwa. "Nobody will get a certificate until they have done their duty towards their country and that duty is three years." The country has over the years lost health professionals among them nurses, doctors, pharmacists and radiologists to other countries mostly the United Kingdom. The inaugural Environmental Health Practitioners Council is made up of Messers Lereto Nare, Naboth Mawoyo, Peter Tawadashiri, Nkosana Mukungu-nugwa, Dombo Chibanda and Edward Kufarimayi. One member is still to be appointed. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |