The Nurses Council of Zimbabwe has been urged to urgently decentralise its operations and establish provincial offices to ease the burden on nurses forced to travel long distances to Harare for registration services, with Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care Sleiman Timios Kwidini demanding timelines for the process to begin.
Speaking during the International Day of Midwives commemorations held Friday at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH), Kwidini openly criticised the resistance to change within some parastatals and professional councils, saying the continued centralisation of services contradicted the government’s devolution agenda.
The deputy minister said decentralising operations and establishing provincial offices would ease the burden on nurses who are forced to travel long distances to Harare for registration services.
Kwidini’s remarks drew loud applause and cheers from nurses attending the event, many of whom have long complained about the costly and cumbersome process of travelling to Harare at their own expense to register their credentials.
“As the deputy minister, I have seen that there is some resistance to change in our parastatals,” said Kwidini.
“I hope there is a registrar for the Nurses Council maybe to come to where I am standing. While they are coming, I think these are some of the people who are resisting change. Our President has devolved everything.”
The Deputy Minister said there was no justification for the Nurses Council to continue operating solely from Harare when healthcare workers from southern provinces faced financial and logistical challenges accessing services.
“But the Nurses Council is failing to devolve. Maybe they were saying they didn’t have accommodation to accommodate their officers here. But a great work and greater job has been done by our CMO at UBH, who is going to offer them a room for three to six months so that they can do the registration and any other duties they are doing in Harare for this region also,” he said.
Kwidini said decentralisation was in line with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s devolution policy and vision that “no place and no one should be left behind.”
“So, we don’t want, when the President has devolved, that’s why you have heard me saying the Minister of Devolution for Bulawayo… it means the President means it. Why does the Nurses Council and other councils fail to devolve to the northern region to assist these professionals?” he asked.
“Other than them having challenges travelling all the way to Harare for just mere registration to become a qualified nurse.”
Kwidini then directly challenged Nurses Council Registrar, Rhoda Mafukidze, to provide a timeline for when the decentralisation process would begin.
“So, Ms Mafukidze, the office has been devolved. I need to tell these people. We are not telling these only, but the region which starts from Masvingo, that is five provinces, Midlands, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Bulawayo Province, when are you going to open the office?” he asked.
Responding before delegates, health professionals and development partners, Mafukidze acknowledged the concerns and said the decentralisation exercise was already underway.
“It is work in progress and we will start devolving soon and will update him,” she said.
However, Kwidini insisted the process required concrete deadlines rather than vague assurances.
“As professionals, we don’t want to put someone under the bus, but soon is not the time. A time frame is needed,” he said.
“I think you saw someone who was talking about the e-partograph, that there is a time frame. And the midwives who were displaying what happens during childbirth spoke about 3cm to 10cm to show there is a time frame. So, soon is not the time frame. Anyway, I will be on your back to make sure this is going to be applied.”
The Deputy Minister’s intervention resonated strongly with nurses and midwives attending the commemorations, many of whom have repeatedly raised concerns over the financial burden associated with registration processes.
Several nurses at the event said travelling to Harare often meant spending money on transport, accommodation and food at a time when many healthcare workers are already grappling with low salaries and difficult working conditions.
Others noted that delays in registration could affect employment opportunities and deployment, particularly for newly qualified nurses from remote areas.
In an interview with journalists after the event, Kwidini said decentralising nurses’ registration services was long overdue and necessary to align with government policy on devolution and equitable access to services.
“Something which is left behind, not going hand in hand with our President’s vision and mantra that no place and no one should be left behind, we have seen nurses travelling all the way to Harare to do their registration activities, which is not the President’s mantra,” he said.
“We cannot have someone travelling from Beitbridge all the way to Harare, someone coming from Victoria Falls or Binga going to Harare.”
He said the government now expected the Nurses Council to establish offices in the southern region to provide equal access to services.
“We have said this is the time to devolve. We have said the Nurses Council should come down to the southern region and set offices so that all these services being given in Harare are also found in the southern region,” said Kwidini.
“Everyone is equal, come, get service and go home.”
Zimbabweans have for some time been calling for the decentralisation of key public services, as citizens, mostly in outlying provinces, continue travelling long distances to access essential administrative services concentrated in the capital.
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