"For the past four years, Zimbabwean nurse Setfree Mafukidze has been calling Northern Ireland her new home. He is part of a growing wave of health professionals who are leaving Zimbabwe in search of better career opportunities, safer working conditions and better pay in the United Kingdom and beyond. "I loved my job back home, but the conditions made it impossible to keep going," Mafukidze told DW. "You reach a point where you feel you're giving everything and getting nothing back.""
"Low salaries and poor working conditions appear to be the main driving forces for this exodus. Zimbabwean nurses earn around $250 per month, with doctors averaging about twice that at best; strikes and protests in the past have done little to improve the overall situation. By contrast, nurses in the UK can earn up top $4,000 monthly, allowing them not only a higher standard of living in their new home countries but also allowing them to send money back home to support their family."
"Thousands of skilled nurses face burnout Before relocating, Mafukidze had served as head nurse at a rural clinic in Chivhu, about located about 140 kilometers south of the capital, Harare. The facility, which serves an area with around 10,000 people, had only two nurses there a situation which is increasingly becoming common across Zimbabwe's public health system. The dwindling number of nurses who still remain in Zimbabwe's understaffed hospitals and clinics have to make up for this shortfall."
Setfree Mafukidze has lived in Northern Ireland for four years after leaving Zimbabwe. He sought better career opportunities, safer working conditions and higher pay. Long queues at healthcare facilities reflect shortages, forcing nurses to serve catchment areas of up to 10,000 people. Zimbabwean nurses earn about $250 per month and doctors roughly twice that; strikes and protests have not improved pay. By contrast, UK nurses can earn up to $4,000 monthly, enabling higher living standards and remittances. Understaffed rural clinics, such as one in Chivhu with only two nurses for around 10,000 people, drive burnout among remaining staff.
Read at www.dw.com
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