(Last Updated on May 7, 2021 by zimdaily)
HARARE – Zimbabwe is still facing an acute shortage of midwives and the situation has escalated due to the COVID-19-induced demand for nurses globally.
As the world celebrated International Day of the Midwife yesterday, it was revealed that the country is grappling with a severe shortage of these experts who are leaving the country in droves for greener pastures abroad.
Since the advent of COVID-19 globally, there has been a massive demand for nurses and sadly, due to poor remuneration and deplorable working conditions, many including midwives have joined the great trek to greener pastures.
Zimbabwe Confederation of Midwives president Emmanuel Mahlangu said midwives were not being recognised in the country for their critical role in delivering babies safely and keeping a lid on maternal deaths.
“The global need for nurses has depleted our staff. These experts for normal deliveries are sadly migrating to other countries where they will only be operating as general nurses. This is because here, we do not recognise their role and out of frustration, many answered to global calls for nursing vacancies and now we have a shortage,” he said.
Mahlangu said it was sad that Zimbabwe, still with unacceptably high maternal mortality rate, was now just a training ground for other countries.
Newsday