• ZUNO is also in the dark as to why that announcement has come.
• The Union does not know at what level they have started recruiting.
• There is need to have transparency on how this recruitment is done.
Zambia Union of Nurses Organization (ZUNO) has called on Ministry of Health to ensure transparency in the recruitment of healthcare workers.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Union General Secretary Fray Michelo however said the Organization is surprised that the Ministry of Health has started recruiting health workers without giving guidance on how the exercise is being done.
Mr. Michelo said the Union does not know whether the recruitment exercise is being done by Ministry of Health Head Office, provincial or district level and what modalities they have used.
“We are equally surprised to hear that announcement that they have started recruiting health workers. We don’t know at what level they have started recruiting, whether this recruitment is being done by Ministry of Health Head Office or provincial level or it’s being done at district level.”
“We don’t know what they have considered, what modalities have they used. Have they used the qualifications which were submitted sometime back, or they have used to say no those who were volunteering should be considered first, or they have used the first come first served basis to say those who graduated earlier should be employed earlier,” Mr. Michelo wondered.
He added that the institution is in the dark on the recruitment announcement because the Ministry of Health has not stated the number of nurses, paramedicals, and doctors they are employing.
“So we are also in the dark as to why that announcement has come because we haven’t seen even the numbers themselves, how many they are employing, how many nurses, how many paramedicals, how many doctors, we don’t know the numbers.”
“We don’t want a situation which we used to see in the previous regime where somebody who graduated a month ago is getting a job than somebody who graduated 3 or 4 years ago. There is need to have transparency on how this recruitment is done,” he said.
Yesterday, Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary for Administration Dr. Lackson Kasonka disclosed that the recruitment of over 11, 000 health workers has already commenced and is being done in a methodical and systematic manner.
Speaking during the routine Covid-19 updates, Dr. Kasonka said government wants to ensure that the exercise is done correctly so that accusations of nepotism and corruption do not arise.
