By Chisomo Phiri
The initially court-blocked walk-in-interviews for health workers scheduled for today until Saturday will proceed following an agreement between Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda and the claimants’ lawyers.
On Wednesday, at least 122 health workers obtained a court order stopping the interviews which they described as discriminatory.
However, In a statement this publication has in possession, Secretary for Health Ministry, Samson Mndolo says the interviews will proceed as initially planned.
He says both parties have agreed to lift a court order through a consent order following an understanding that the recruitment is fully sponsored by the Global Fund.
“The vacancy rate for health workers within the Ministry of Health is currently hovering around 48% and as one way of addressing this shortage, the government secured a grant from Global Fund to be applied towards recruiting additional health care workers.
“It is understood that the recruitment of health care workers would significantly help to reduce the shortage of healthcare workers in public health facilities,”speaks Mndolo in a statement.
He adds that serving healthcare workers would be allowed to compete for promotion during the promotional interviews to be conducted in due course.
Mndolo further says this would serve to comply with Section 4 of the Public Service Act which requires that entry into and advancement within the public service should be determined solely based on merit.
The Ministry of Health is in the process of recruiting senior medical officers, nurses, clinical officers and radiographers, among others.
