HARARE – Zimbabwe is reportedly set to recruit at least 102 specialist doctors from Cuba to be deployed to the country’s referral and provincial hospitals.
According to the state-owned Chronicle newspaper, the Minister of Health and Child Care David Parirenyatwa said the country had a serious shortage of specialist doctors.
“Finally we are hoping to recruit 102 specialists to go into mostly our provincial hospitals and of course some will come to central hospitals. What we are trying to do is to say every provincial hospital should have at least five specialist doctors. At the moment provincial hospitals have at least one or two specialists,” Parirenyatwa was quoted as saying.
Zimbabwe had one of Africa’s best healthcare systems but a brain drain following a plunge into economic crisis and hyper-inflation has wreaked all-round havoc, including on the medical sector.
In February this year, hundreds of patients endured long hours waiting in casualty units at the country’s state hospitals due to a crippling strike by doctors seeking higher allowances and better work conditions.
News24
