By Own Correspondent

ZIMBABWE is losing 20% of its health care workforce annually due to brain drainage, Parliament has revealed.

Speaking in Parliament recently, Hon Ropafadzo Makumire blamed poor remuneration and lack of career growth, training or incentives for healthcare workers as the major force behind more than 4 000 health professionals, including 2 600 nurses, leaving the country in search of greener pastures to neighboring countries such as South Africa, Zambia and even overseas.

“Mr. Speaker Sir, it is not fair that we train doctors, we train nurses, we train other medical experts and when they finish their programs, they go and render their services to other countries. Something must be done by our Government to ensure that those whom we train will remain in Zimbabwe and serve their country. Mr. Speaker Sir, at one point, Zimbabwe was losing up to 20% of its health workforce annually,” the legislator said.

 Makumire said these outcomes reflect not just an economic crisis but a deliberate failure by the government to invest and protect its health sector arguing that such is risking the lives of both the healthcare workers and the public they serve.

“The mental health emergency; mental health is a growing but neglected emergency in our country. Drug addiction, depression and suicide are rising sharply Mr. Speaker. The situation is not good out there. Our young people are dying from this addiction, what are we doing to save the perishing generation? Young people are the present and the future of our country. We must do something to save them from this disaster,” the legislator said.

Makumire quizzed why medical institutions  lack psychiatrists, medication and infrastructure. The MP said one looks at non-communicable diseases, public hospitals lack diagnostic equipment, cancer screening services and those who are diagnosed of the disease spend years on the waiting list.

The lawmaker argued that there is no clear public record of how much was spent on procuring cancer machines or whether those machines are fully functional.

“When are they going to be delivered? There is nothing clear about that. This lack of transparency and accountability in critical health procurement, seen before in the drug scandal, is costing lives and public trust. The budget tells a story of neglect?” the lawmaker said.

Makumire stressed that a government that invests more in officials than in lifesaving healthcare undermines its moral obligation to protect public wellbeing.

“The efforts by the Government to improve public healthcare, while I acknowledge the early post-independence efforts to expand healthcare access, the Government's track record over the past 45 years has been marked by decline, neglect and misplaced priorities. Of course, there are some developments that are happening across the country. There are clinics that are being built using Constituency Development Funds (CDF),” added Makumire.