President Mnangagwa has promised that the government will improve remuneration and conditions of service for medical practitioners so that their skills are retained in the country.
President Mnangagwa said it was important to reward doctors competitively, adding that Government will give land for free to those who wished to set up medical facilities.
“We have to competitively reward our doctors in order to guarantee greater staff retention in our hospitals, and in the country. Many of our doctors continue to leave the country for greener pastures; they are hotly sought after, particularly in the rich West, because of our superior training facilities.
“The Second Republic has to treat in-country medical staff retention as a foremost national goal. More visible and substantive steps will be taken in the near future to improve the working conditions for our medical staff,” he stated.
The President noted that the doctor to patient ratio in the country remained low.
In his words:
“The number of medical practitioners in the country remains unsatisfactorily low. I am told we have 3 777 registered medical practitioners in the country. Of this number, 1 982 are General Medical Officers; 713 are specialists; 250 are dentists, while 627 are interns. We have to boost our medical corps.
“This programme will continue until every village and community is within reach of a medical facility, for basic health provisioning. Alongside this thrust, we continue to invest in district hospitals until the goal of a fully functional hospital for each district is met.
