Nurses' Union Condemn Cancellation Of Flexi Agreement
The Zimbabwe Professional Nurses Union (ZPNU) has condemned the decision by the government to cancel the Flexi arrangement for nurses.
This comes after Mashonaland East provincial medical director Simukai Zizhou advised nurses at Marondera Provincial Hospital that the arrangement has been cancelled.
Zizhou said the measure was taken because nurses were staying away from work on more days than they were supposed to and also the issue of their incapacitation has been resolved after they received COVID-19 allowances which are 55% of their salaries.
However, ZPNU secretary-general Douglas Chikobvu said Zizhou had blundered. He said:
The nurses have been shocked by the grave miscalculation on how we can combat this global challenge which is a highly infectious disease.
The memo totally doesn’t take into consideration that the 1-2 day per week working schedule is implemented countrywide at various institutions of care and is also meant to reduce exposure time to healthcare staff on possible COVID-19 cases, but someone just chooses to compromise the health of our fellow nurses.
Sadly, these institutions have close to nothing in terms of personal protective clothing but Zizhou seems unaware where we are coming from, where we are and where we are going.
This decision comes when nurses are haunted daily as they continue to discharge their duties without adequate PPE&C [personal protective equipment and clothing].
We totally condemn the move at all costs and clearly state that the memo is absolutely impractical.
As a nurses union, we totally register our displeasure as administrative machinations take a toll and continue to be perpetrated against fellow nurses.
