1 032 Nurses Struck Off Payroll

The Health Services Board (HSB) has removed 1 032 defiant nurses from its pay sheets after they declined to resume normal working hours and insisted on either not working or working sharply reduced hours.

Besides not paying those who are not working, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting that the board was now instituting disciplinary hearings for at least 1 280 nurses, who have defied the call to return to normal duties.

While a variety of penalties are possible in such hearings depending on charges and circumstances, including dismissal, there have been suggestions that some of these nurses could be placed on fixed-term contracts if they return as part of a proposed restructuring of the public health sector.

It is understood the board has between 16 000 and 18 000 nurses in its employ, all those in the public sector, implying that less than 8 percent of the nursing staff will be affected by the twin developments.

HSB chairman Dr Paulinus Sikosana last night confirmed the move not to pay nurses who are not working and the start of disciplinary proceedings. Most of the affected nurses were on the staff of central hospitals.

“We have removed 1 032 nurses from the pay sheet. They defied a Government directive and we were left with no option,” said Dr Sikosana.

Nurses had crafted a working schedule where they worked for a few hours a week, but the arrangement proved unsustainable, especially with the threat of Covid-19 continuing to hover over the country, resulting in Government cancelling the plan and ordering a return to normal duty rosters.

Many nurses heeded Government’s call, but others have been using their defiance to push for salary increments during ongoing negotiations between nurses’ representatives and Government. Zimetro