Regional May 2006 |
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| SADC to stem poaching of health professionals, (Chronicle, 2006-05-15):-Southern Africa is taking steps to minimise poaching of doctors and nurses by requiring the country of origin of a health professional to agree to his or her employment in another SADC state. Under a protocol that has been worked on since 2003, no SADC member state shall disadvantage the other by luring or stealing health professional using economic superiority. Health Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa yesterday said the protocol would hugely benefit Zimbabwe and other member states against South Africa and Botswana, which lead the list of engaging doctors and nurses from neighbours since they can offer the highest salaries. “Permission has to be sought first then if it is granted the doctor can be allowed to make the necessary move,” he said. This latest move comes at a time when the Government has tried several initiatives to retain its health professionals without much success. Among some of the initiatives was the system of bonding, which saw doctors and nurses having to serve in Government health institutions for the same number of years they were trained before they could make a move. Dr Parirenyatwa said under the SADC protocols even if some Zimbabweans got their medical training in another Southern African country — like Botswana or South Africa — they had to do their housemanship back at home. “Even if our children are trained there they have to come and do their housemanship here not in the country where they would have trained. “They should have knowledge of how the system works here,” he said. Dr Parirenyatwa said it was not always the medical students’ wish to come back home for their housemanship and as such, they would come up with all sorts of excuses. “Some claim that they have to work in South Africa so they can pay back what they owe the universities there, which may be true but I am saying all these challenges should not have to result in the suffering of the country’s health delivery system, which is the health of the nation,” he said. Dr Parirenyatwa challenged the Medical and Dental Council to ensure that it comes up with solutions to solving some of these challenges. Besides Botswana and South Africa, the United Kingdom has also taken a large share of Zimbabwean health professionals but is obviously not bound by any SADC protocol. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |