News of The South|Zimbabwe counts for over 30% of the total number of health workers who have died in the U.K. The minister of Health in the U.K. has said over a hundred health workers have died in the frontline in UK.
The risks taken daily by the armies of British doctors, nurses and healthcare workers treating coronavirus patients have been starkly illustrated by a growing number of deaths.
The rising tally comes amid mounting concerns over the testing crisis, with ministers under increasing pressure to explain when NHS workers are to be tested and why Britain lags behind other nations in testing. Zimbabwean nurses based in the United Kingdom (UK) have taken the toll position in the number of those who have died in the fight against the Corona virus. Nurses and other health care workers are particularly vulnerable to contracting the coronavirus as they work on the frontline in combating the disease. The number of Zimbabweans working in the health sector is over 60.000. This figure could be more considering that most Zimbabweans came to the United Kingdom on Malawian, South African and Botswana passports. So if they die they are counted as the nationals of the country’s they hold passports of. This large number is not counted. Being that as it may the number of Zimbabweans officially counted is thirty percent of the whole number of the dead workers in the United Kingdom. May God Bless their Souls and May they rest in peace.
The ZANU PF NPC, Victor Matemadanda describes these as double heroes who are heroes in the U.K. and heroes in their own country Zimbabwe. They deserve medals, they laid down their lives for the lives of others. Such unlimited love create heroes and indeed these are unsung heroes.
If someone lays down his life for another person, he died so that the other person can live. One can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. Such was the bravery shown by the Zimbabwean nurses in the UK. Nursing is a profession of care love and passion and bound by Nightingale’s pledge which says :
“I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practise my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping, and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavour to aid the physician in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.
The Nightingale Pledge is a statement of the ethics and principles of the nursing profession. But when pushed to the point to chose between their lives or that of their patients they opt to die in the place of the sick. The Zimbabwean nurses have laid their lives down in the difficult situations without considerations to colour or nationality. The Corona virus situation proved that nurses are autonomous professionals on whom patients can rely. By laying their lives for others to live nurses have shown that they are modern science professionals who protect and advocate for patients and strive very hard to meet those challenges. The sacrifices made by these nurses brought about the care environment and assuring patients and the nation at large that nurses are there to fend for them.
But why Zimbabwean nurses are the ones who are taking the fall in the UK.
Most Zimbabweans almost 75% of Zimbabweans in the UK are nurses or health care workers. Most Zimbabweans work in the NHS from Cleaners, kitchen assistants to Executive officers they grace the NHS with their services. Besides NHS some work in the care homes and some private hospitals. Some Zimbabweans work in a one on one basis staying at the home of the service user commonly known as leave In.
In that scenario Zimbabweans have flooded the health and care industry. This then justifies why are Zimbabweans are easy targets of the Corona’s evil bullet. The other problem with Zimbabwean nurses is that they work very hard. Zimbabwean nurses most of them work three jobs a day. This exhausts them and they then make mistakes in their last job of the day. They then will have their guards down and sometimes forget to use the Protective Equipment. They become victims in the process of their work. They are highly blinded by money and as a result they will contract the disease in the wake of their service. Another problem is that the nurses work to impress their bosses and want to be on the side of the manager. The reality is Zimbabweans sometimes become good boys do everything impression management actors. This then sees them being asked to Doris my jobs. In the quest to be good girls they come back with the virus. Because of our soft culture we stand today mourning our friends our mothers our children. Zimbabweans in most cases will only stand up for their rights when it’s too late. The amount of abuse our friends get used to is unbelievable.
Many Zimbabwean nurses got the virus because they did not believe the virus was real. This was our most downfall. We have lost many brothers many countrymen because of impression management.
Even though the UK government has pledged sixty thousand pounds to every family which lost a member this does not give a life back.
Most if not all these nurses went to work with the hope of coming back with money. They sadly come back home with a virus. Some have taken the whole family down with Corona. Our thoughts are with the families left behind and indeed the families still waiting for the sick in hospital who are supposed to come back home. They put their faith in God and hope that they will come back.
Please stay safe. This virus is real. We have lost enough relatives.