"Impoverished" Nurses Are Barred From Leaving Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean nurses desperate to leave the country for greener pastures are finding it difficult to emigrate as authorities refuse to provide key documents.
Nurses working in Zimbabwe’s public hospitals earn the equivalent of less than $200 a month, which has forced some of them to consider migrating to countries like Canada and Britain where there are better opportunities.
Speaking to The Globe and Mail, Agnes Masarira said she cannot afford to buy lunch at a government hospital in Masvingo where she works. She said:
It’s like I’m a slave. I have no house, no car and not enough to eat, yet I’m considered employed.
I live with my brother. I can only afford second-hand clothes. My child has to watch me struggle every day.
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Masarira said for years she has visited Health Ministry offices to request the documents but each time she was told that the officials who must sign the documents were unavailable.
She said one official asked for a bribe of US$200 to arrange her diploma, but she could not afford it.
Last year the Zimbabwean government doubled the application fee for verification letters to US$300 from US$150, making it even more difficult for nurses to emigrate.
The letters have become almost impossible to obtain anyway, even when nurses are able to pay the fee.
Setfree Mafukidze, a Zimbabwean nurse who emigrated to Britain in 2020 when the restrictions were not as tight, said:
It’s a human-rights abuse against the suffering nurses. People are being tied down by the government. It leads to corruption. Some officials are cashing in on bribes from desperate nurses.
The danger is that we’re going to have a group of very disgruntled nurses in hospitals and clinics, which is very dangerous for patients.
Mateline Dube, a 34-year-old nurse at a government hospital in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, said:
I’m just living from hand to mouth. Often I have to walk to work, about four kilometres, because I don’t have money for transport.
Sometimes, with my nursing uniform on, I have to beg for transport from motorists, but that’s dehumanizing and embarrassing for me. That’s why I want to leave this country.
Nelisiwe Sibanda, a 36-year-old nurse in a government hospital in Harare told The Globe and Mail that she paid US$300 for a verification letter last year but never received the letter.
She said one official told her that she would never get the documents. Sibanda said:
I’ve become a burden to my friends and relatives since I’m asking them for financial help every month. I’m tired of this now.
I’m very angry at the authorities for blocking my dream to leave this country.
Zimbabwe has experienced a massive brain drain in the health sector in the past few years.
More than 4 000 health workers, including about 2 600 nurses, left the country in 2021 and 2022.
