GOVERNMENT is making frantic efforts to reintroduce locum funds in all public hospitals to motivate health workers not to leave public hospitals, Health and Child Care deputy minister Sleiman Kwidini has said.
Speaking during a tour of the United Bulawayo Hospitals ((UBH) last week, Kwidini said the locum funds were available to motivate hospital workers hence the need to reintroduce them.
He said payment for locum duties carried out by nurses, doctors and laboratory scientists was meant to motivate them to be at work as they would be earning extra money.
“It was also reducing the turnaround time for our patients in the hospital because everyone would be attended to in time. There were no shortages and it would cover the gap in human capital. So if we return this, it is another way of motivating our staff,” Kwidini said.
He said there was a shortage of doctors in public health institutions because they were not being paid well.
“You have seen it is an outcry which is happening in our institutions that doctors are not readily available when patients have come because some will be going out for locums.
“But we are saying we had this system in our ministry so we are now engaging the ministry and other responsible authorities to reintroduce it. Then we make sure that these locums are funded, it motivates them,” he said.
Kwidini said breakdowns of hospital machinery were caused by workers who to took specimens to private hospitals where they practise as locums so that they get extra cash.
“Some of the problems that we see in hospitals, such as mechanical faults are caused by our people because they would want to ground the systems in the institutions and to go and practice in the private sector where they can get more money,” he said.
“I have seen our chemistry machines in labs and most of them have technical faults and these technical faults are not manufacturers’ problem or the age but it is because of our people who are working on those machines.
“They are creating those faults so that they can take these specimens to the private where they practise as locum practitioners.”
UBH chief medical officer William Busuman called on the government to ensure doctors are attracted to work in public institutions.
“We want government to
reintroduce issues to do with locum for health practitioners so that they come back to public hospitals. If we have the locum funds or on-call funds, there will not be any workers who will be found in private hospitals. It is a way that we saw that may reduce a lot of challenges in the hospital,” Busuman said.
