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VICE-PRESIDENT Guy Scott has said that Government will employ 800 graduate nurses to replace the dismissed health practitioners.
Dr Scott maintained in Parliament that Government would not reinstate the fired nurses but replace them with the 800 graduate nurses.
He was responding to a question from Muchinga MMD Member of Parliament (MP) Howard Kunda who wanted to know where Government would get nurses to replace the fired ones in the country.
Earlier, Patriotic Front (PF) Kamfinsa MP Moses Chishimba asked Government whether it had any intention to rescind its decision of dismissing nurses.
But Dr Scott said Government would not rescind its decision as the nurses were clearly warned before they were dismissed.
”We have adequate nurses and health workers, 800 graduate nurses will be taken on to replace them,” he said.
He said Government would not allow a situation where essential workers behaved in a manner that left fragile and vulnerable people in a desperate situation.
Mumbwa MMD MP Brian Chituwo also raised a point of order on whether Government was in order to fire the nurses when currently Zambia had a shortage of health workers in excess of 25,000 and that the action had paralysed operations at the affected institutions.
United Party for National Development (UPND) Katombola MP Derrick Livune asked Government what it would do concerning Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) threats of countrywide industrial unrest if fired nurses were not reinstated.
Dr Scott said it was important for people to understand that Government had been generous and the generosity should not be taken for granted.
Meanwhile, Dr Scott said Government was monitoring the situation at the border area between Zambia and Mozambique where there had been renewed fighting between that Government and the RENAMO rebels.
Responding to a question from PF Lupososhi MP Bwalya Chungu, Dr Scott said Government would ensure the safety of the Zambians.
Times of Zambia
