Tutorials at Bulawayo’s Mpilo Central Hospital School of Nursing were momentarily suspended on Monday as officials cited safety reasons following a protest by opposition activists and hundreds of people intending to train as nurses at the institution.
Mpilo’s Clinical Director Ngwenya told the protesters that the institution was powerless as the decision to introduce the online recruitment of student nurses was made in Harare. He said:
The list comes from government and I advise that you take this matter with them so you can trace who did this. This was made in Harare and you should trace the one who came up with the idea since we here have no power.
We were doing well with our old system but that was taken from us. As ZAPU also consider approaching the praesidium such as (Vice President Kembo) Mohadi or (President Emmerson) Mnangagwa and highlight these issues.
Stakeholders in Matabeleland were left fuming after the bulky of student nurses enrolled at hospitals in the region were recruited from the Mashonaland Provinces.
For instance, Mpilo Central Hospital recruited 24 trainee nurses and 20 were reportedly from Harare, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland Central.