Staff Reporter
Government is considering ways of improving the welfare of its health workers during this period of Covid-19, due to their exposure to the pandemic, a Government official has said.
Addressing the media during the Post Cabinet Media Briefing in Harare yesterday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa said, “Government is looking into sustainable ways of improving the conditions of service for nurses, doctors and other health professionals. This is in light of the huge workload the professionals are burdened with in this era of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Relatedly, Minister Mutsvangwa informed the public that Government’s decision to transfer all health workers from the Chitungwiza and Harare Municipalities’ payrolls to its payroll has started in earnest, with 60 out of the 65 nursing staff in Chitungwiza having been transferred.
“Measures are being put in place for the City of Harare to expedite the implementation of the Cabinet decision of transferring 368 health professionals. This is in line with the Government’s decision to centralise the payment of essential services in order to ensure timely payment,” she said.
To smoothen the implementation of the transfer of the health workers, the Minister said that Cabinet resolved that, going forward, the implementation of the Cabinet directive be made in a manner that allows the complete absorption of Health Professionals from all Urban Local Authorities starting with Chitungwiza followed by Harare and then moving on to the remaining Local Authorities.
Meanwhile, as at 27 September, 2021, a total of 3 051 371 people had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 2 211 880 got their second across the country. This translates to a national coverage of 35.7% for the first dose and 25.8% for the second dose. Of special note is that the country achieved the three million vaccination milestone for the first dose on 23 September, 2021.
As of 27 September 2021, Zimbabwe’s cumulative COVID-19 cases stood at 129 919, with 122 446 recoveries and 4 607 deaths. The recovery rate stood at 94%, with 99% of cases being attributable to local transmission. Active cases stand at 2 772.
