The UK is employing thousands of nurses that have left Zimbabwe due to poor pay and conditions in what has been described as ‘forced migration’ by the International Council of Nurses (ICN).
Zimbabwean nurses have faced long-standing disputes over pay and working conditions, with nurses facing issues of pay being withheld and staffing agreements disregarded.
The development comes as new figures from the Zimbabwean Health Service Board, obtained by Reuters news agency, revealed that more than 2,600 registered nurses have left the country since 2021, leaving local hospitals short-staffed and the health service in a precarious state.
This includes some 1,700 registered nurses who resigned last year and more than 900 who left this year, with the majority finding work in Britain, according to the report.
Full story in the Nursing Standard, 2 December 2022