NGEZI — Vice-President Joice Mujuru has hinted that the government will soon incentivise jobless qualified nurses to establish village clinics throughout the country in order to curtail the prevalence of diseases, particularly cholera and typhoid. Report by Own Correspondent
Addressing guests at the commissioning of the Zimplats employees’ home ownership scheme in Ngezi on Wednesday, Mujuru said: “Beneficiaries of these descent houses should ensure cleanliness to keep diseases at bay. It is embarrassing for Zimbabwe to be reporting deaths of its citizens due to diseases such as cholera and typhoid, diseases caused by filth.
“I and my colleagues in the government have been murmuring in corridors of power to dangle a carrot in order to promote unemployed nurses to set up clinics in each village throughout the country. This model is very successful in countries like Cuba.
“We need to return to yester-year when we used to have effective village health workers with bags of medicines, working at their village clinics to administer treatment on diarrhoeal or malarial patients. As government we are embarrassed by deaths due to dirt.”
Mujuru said health and other professionals should shake off what she termed the “British mentality” of being job-seekers, but create their own jobs. Mujuru said private sector players should invest in infrastructure to empower communities and create employment and absorb redundant youths and professionals following the government moratorium on new staff recruitments.
The country’s nursing schools are churning out hundreds of trained nurses every year, but the nurses are failing to get jobs locally and the government has been mulling exporting them to neighbouring countries where their services are on demand.
Zimplats unveiled its workers’ housing scheme Phase 2 at a colourful ceremony officiated by Mujuru at Turf Village. The entire $85 million project would avail 2 957 housing units for low-tier employees at a cost of $12 000 each payable over 15 years.
The company built 960 workers’ houses as part of Phase 1.
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Zimplats chief executive Alex Mhembere said his company valued its workforce, Team Zimplats, which now owned 10% shares in the firm through the employee share ownership scheme.
