By Karen Nyeraurombo
Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) executive director Muchaneta Mundopa says healthcare workers in Zimbabwe are being forced into corrupt activities as a way of supplementing their poor remuneration.
Health workers in Zimbabwe are among the worst paid in the SADC region. Their plea for adequate salaries and better working conditions is often ignored by the government.
At one time, nurses and doctors had to go on a three-month-long industrial action to demand PPEs, hospitals amenities and better wages.
Despite promises of improved conditions, the situation has remained the same and this has escalated issues of corruption in health institutions.
Speaking during the launch of a report on Corruption in the Health Sector, Muchaneta Mundopa said the workers are engaging in corruption to survive.
“There is petty corruption which is done by the health care workers due to poor renumeration and simply for survival reasons.
“You would not think Zimbabwe is one of the countries that do not pay their health workers adequately and this provide an incentive for them to engage in petty corruption simply for survival reasons.
“We need to understand how corruption is taking place and why it’s taking place in the health sector. Ordinary health workers are accepting bribes to some extent,” she said.
According to the Transparency International Zimbabwe director, the poor funding to the health sector by government is serving to promote corrupt practices.
The health sector hardly gets what it proposes from budget allocations despite Zimbabwe being a signatory to Abuja Declaration on health funding.
“Lives are lost due to the non-functioning health system. The funding of the health care sector is promoting room for corruption.
“The health sector is vulnerable to corruption due to a number of reasons, and this is due to the amount of money that is spent and channelled towards the health sector, the number of actors that are involved and the uncertainty of when one can fall ill and generally the complexity of the health sector.
“So, this complexity then gives incentive for mismanagement, abuse of power and where there is mismanagement you know that corruption thrives. Just because we made it something not punishable people are getting away with it,’’ she said.
