Healthcare violation

Zimbabwe pushing controversial bill to prevent medical staff from emigrating

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This article is part of the dossier:

Africa’s Medical Brain Drain

By Farai Shawn Matiashe

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Posted on May 3, 2023 10:04

 © A Zimbabwean doctor is immunized at Banket District Hospital in Zimbabwe. (Photo by Tafadzwa Ufumeli/AFP/Getty Images)
A Zimbabwean doctor is immunized at Banket District Hospital in Zimbabwe. (Photo by Tafadzwa Ufumeli/AFP/Getty Images)

In order to stop health workers from running abroad for better salaries, the Zimbabwean government is planning to enact a law that will criminalise the recruitment of nurses and doctors by foreign nations.

This is part 3 of a 6-part series

Speaking at the launch of the National Plan of Action against the trafficking of persons in Harare, Zimbabwe Vice President Constantine Chiwenga equated the recruitment of health workers from the Southern African country to crimes against humanity.

“If people die in hospitals because there are no nurses and doctors and somebody has been so irresponsible – not training their own nationals, but wanting poor countries to train for them, it’s a crime. That must be taken seriously,” he said.

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