Return to work or else we will act says health minister

Government says it will be forced to act against nurses if they refuse to listen to the plea of their union leaders to return to work. Minister of Health Kapembwa Simbao said in Lusaka June 21 that Government has asked union leaders to urge their members to resume work.

“We are currently talking to union representatives. We have asked them to convince their members to resume work because going through their representatives is the only legal route. The nurses have representation and if they don’t listen to them (union leaders), then I don’t know who they will listen to. If only a few listen to their leaders, then we will put the unions aside and move in as Government,” he said.

Simbao says Government has no money to increase nurses’ salaries beyond what has already been agreed upon. He says the only way to increase salaries would be by getting money from other important areas such as agriculture, health and education.

“There is no money hanging around. All the money has been shared in the yellow book. If money has to be found, it will be from these other sectors and this will create another problem like shortage of drugs,” Simbao said adding that government did a lot to move to 15 per cent, as initially, it could only manage 10 per cent.

“We had to struggle to even get the five per cent. This five per cent was from these other sectors, so people must understand,” he said.

Simbao said it is difficult to get excessive salary increase because of the global recession. He said, however, that despite the recession, Government is working to improve conditions of service for nurses and other health personnel. He said Government wants a situation where Zambian workers get competitive salaries like those of their counterparts in the region. He still has hope that the situation will improve.

“I am not, as Minister of Health, directly involved in this situation. The labour union’s line of report is through Minister of Labour and Social Security. I only come in where there are health issues to be resolved,” he said.

He urged nurses to understand that Government is committed to their cause and that their pleas had not fallen on deaf ears.