Nurses to go on strike

As health sector woes continue to escalate in the country, some nurses and midwives are planning to hold a sit-in to force authorities to give them their locum money which they have not been receiving for some time.

The nurses from Ntcheu District Hospital have said that they will down their tools to force the District Nursing Officer Mr Phiri to pay them their locum money.

In an interview, one of the concerned nurses who has been working since January without receiving the locum money expressed dissatisfaction over the matter.

“I graduated last year from a nursing college and I had an opportunity to start working with Ntcheu District Hospital waiting for government post but since that time, I have not received my locum money until up to now.”

“When I approach the District Nursing officer most of the times, they just told me that I will receive my money but up to now I have not received any money,” she said.

Since the issue has been reported in the media, nurses who had a meeting on the issue on Wednesday were forced to write down their names and submit the list to the District Nursing Officer who also demanded an apology from the nurses as they rushed to talk to the media.

But commenting on the development, public relations officer for Ntcheu district hospital Mrs Kawalala said government gives money to the hospital through funding so the nurses will get their money when the hospital receives funding.

She further said that if the nurses will hold a sit-in it will be because of another issue not for the locum money.

“We had a meeting on Sunday and we agreed that the nurses will receive their locum money. So if they are saying they want to hold a sit-in for the issue then it’s not fair because we agreed on the issue and we ended their grievances that they are not receiving their locum. Moreover it’s not all nurses who are not receiving money, some they do receive some not due to the amount of money we get from government,” she said.

This comes hot in the heels of  a heightened debate after a revelation by government that there are just no jobs for nurses in the government.

principal secretary for the ministry of health McPhail Magwira urged the nurses to have creative minds that can help them to be entrepreneurs.