COVID- 19 and its Impact on Human Resources for Health Deployment: The Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care Perspective

Chiware Mervis and Bernard Nkala

Journal of Public Administration and Governance, 2021, vol. 11, issue 3, 9099

Abstract: This research discusses the impact of COVID-19 on human resources deployment in the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC). Documentary research and in-depth interviews aided in interrogating the impacts of the pandemic on the deployment of the MoHCC health workforce to meet the increased demand and workload especially in COVID-19 red zones. Research pointed to pressure on the deployment of health professionals dealing with disease detection, screening of patients and case management. COVID-19 can be viewed as a test on the Health Service Board’s deployment strategies. Registered nurses’ deployment rose from below 45% to 95% in the last quarter of 2020 resulting in the Treasury adopting a policy shift, easily concurring to increase the establishment of frontline nurses based on workload requirements as well as recruiting from outside the MoHCC. This culminated in an improved nurse-patient- ratio and revitalisation of human resources planning mechanisms leading to the adoption of Information Technology in human resources planning and management processes. The adoption of website-based recruitment and deployment framework improved turnaround time in the deployment of health professionals. As COVID-19 continues, the use of scientific human resources planning tools like WISN are highly recommended in providing essential evidence to inform the basis of deploying health professionals at different Ministry’s health facilities.

Date: 2021
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