Govt Cancels Flexi Hours For Nurses

The Health Services Board has reneged on its agreement with the unions representing nurses which allowed nurses to work two days a week.

This was revealed in a letter dated April 20 addressed to Marondera Provincial Hospital by the Mashonaland East provincial medical director Simukai Zizhou. The letter read:

To ensure that there is continuity in service provision and adequate coverage, the interim arrangement of flexible hours for all staff categories at your institution has been cancelled indefinitely.

Please be advised that all members of staff are supposed to return to work and resume normal duties with immediate effect.

On Tuesday Zizhou defended the move, telling NewsDay that the nurses at the hospital were not following properly the schedule of Flexi hours and also there was a need to have an adequate staff of qualified nurses to help fight the coronavirus.

The Flexi hours arrangement was entered into early this year to cushion nurses who had gone on an indefinite strike due to poor salaries eroded by inflation.

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