Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo in a statement said with effect from May 2020, provincial and central hospitals across the country will be responsible for the recruitment of nurses, which will still be done electronically to limit human interface in the selection process and to avoid corruption.
"Going forward the electronic recruitment will be administered by the province and central hospitals starting with the May 2020 intake. Government will continue to put in place measures and policies that will curb corruption," said the minister.
He said Government had noted with concern social media messages that had circulated leading to demonstrations at Mpilo Central Hospital after scores of people were duped into turning up for politically motivated demonstrations under the pretext of coming to apply for nursing recruitment.
The past few weeks have been chaotic in the city with politicians and pressure groups castigating the recruitment system which they said marginalised people from Matabeleland.
Dr Moyo, however maintained that the recruitment process was fair revealing that a total 102 students from Matabeleland Provinces out of 464 benefited from the electronic selection.
"The computerised random nature of the e-selection process eliminates bias, human error and offers equal chances of selection to each and every applicant across the country. The random selection and placement of trainees across the geographical regions enables cross fertilisations and experiences by trainees across the cultural diversities of Zimbabwe.
"The e-nursing recruitment process offered credibility in the recruitment exercise in that it administered the selection on a random basis. This saw a sizeable number of students from Matabeleland region being selected and posted to train in other provinces and vice versa," said the minister.
He urged the public to have faith in the system, which he said was transparent and unbiased.
Dr Moyo said Government introduced the e-nursing recruitment process to curtail corruption which had become rampant in the selection process which saw prospective applicants paying large sums of money to be admitted into schools of nursing around the country.
"This was a recommendation coming from Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission which had done an audit of the recruitment process in all of the Central and Provincial Hospitals and unearthed alarming levels of corruption," said Dr Moyo. In a recent interview after the Mpilo Central hospital demonstrations, Bulawayo provincial affairs minister Judith Ncube said the nurse recruitment procedure should offer equal opportunities to applicants in mostly rural areas with limited access to technology and the internet.
"I must say that there should be a way to bridge this digital gap. However, for now we must ensure that the playing field is level so that all prospective applicants get equal opportunities to apply and be considered. Remember, we have equally deserving prospective students in rural areas who may fail to apply due to the conditions of their existence. It is unfair and it must be addressed," said Ncube.
