The increasing numbers of nurses leaving Zimbabwe in search of better prospects left the country’s health sector struggling with a 50% operating capacity.
The development left the remaining nurses overworked and stressed leading to their resignation.
Zimbabwe has long underpaid its public sector workers.
The nurse on the lowest salary employed by the city council or the government on the lowest salary takes home less than $200 (£150) a month.
Most of them are going to the UK or Ireland, others to Zimbabwe’s neighbouring countries or to the private sector.
Due to the impact of the pandemic and Brexit, the UK has been on a recruitment drive for medical professionals to plug its own staff shortages.
The state Health Service Board said that of the over 2,200 medical personnel that left its services in 2021, 900 of them were nurses.
This was more the number of staff who left in 2020 and 2019 respectively.
