Zimbabwean govt admits: ‘Our policies driving doctors out of the country’

The Zimbabwean government has acknowledged that its policies are driving doctors out of the country, leading to a critical shortage of medical professionals in rural areas and small towns.

This admission came in response to a question posed by legislator Vincent Sihlabo (Mangwe-CCC) in Parliament, who highlighted the issue of doctors leaving the public sector to pursue private practice.

Sleiman Kwidini, the Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care, acknowledged that the country is facing a significant shortage of doctors, particularly in rural areas.

He attributed this to the migration of health workers to other countries in search of better opportunities. He assured legislators that the government is working to address this issue through various measures, including training more doctors and seeking assistance from friendly countries.

He stated that the government is committed to retaining health workers and has introduced several schemes to attract and retain them, hence admitting that the current policies are not attractive.

“The Government measure, as I said earlier on, we are in a situation to retain the health workers. As I said, most of the health workers migrated in the past years, so by 2030, we are expecting to double the health workers we have now.

“We need to be able to fill the posts in those areas. In terms of retention, the Government has also introduced several schemes such that it can attract our health workers so that they will in turn practice in our country,” the Minister said.

The government’s policies have been criticised for being unattractive to doctors, leading to a brain drain in the health sector.

The shortage of doctors has resulted in inadequate healthcare services, particularly in rural areas, where patients often have to travel long distances to access medical attention.

One of the reasons why doctors are leaving the country is the issue of poor salaries. The government has since banned healthcare workers from demonstrating against this.

Kwidini said the government’s goal is to double the health workforce by 2030.

Zimbabwe’s 2024 budget falls short of expectations for the healthcare sector, allocating a mere 9% of the total budget.

This is significantly below the 15% threshold recommended by the Abuja Declaration, which Zimbabwe has ratified.

The inadequate funding allocation raises concerns about the government’s commitment to improving the country’s ailing healthcare system.