Over 4,000 Zimbabwean doctors and nurses left the country in 2021
A health worker washes her hands during a demonstration of preparations for any potential coronavirus cases at a hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe, March 11, 2020. Picture taken March 11, 2020. REUTERS FILE PHOTO
HARARE — Zimbabwean health workers have left the country in droves over the past year, a senior official at the Health Services Board (HSB) revealed on Sunday.
More than 4,000 health workers have left since 2021, HSB chairperson Dr Paulinus Sikosana told Reuters. This includes more than 1,700 registered nurses who resigned last year and more than 900 who left this year.
Health workers went on strike in June demanding to be paid in U.S. dollars as inflation further weakened the local currency.
Doctors and nurses in Zimbabwe have found work mainly in Britain, leaving the country’s health sector in dire straits and local hospitals understaffed.
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