A group of unemployed enrolled nurses has called on the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) for a fair, transparent and centralised recruitment process.
The leader of the group that petitioned the ministry, Saveria Ndjeke, says the number of positions advertised by the ministry is less compared to the number of qualified applicants competing for employment.
The group says it represents 82 unemployed enrolled nurses.
The Kenneth Human Rights Association, spearheaded by activist Kennedy Iilonga, indicated that the number of unemployed enrolled nurses as well as other qualified nursing graduates is currently seeking employment in the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
The group stressed that unemployed nurses face financial pressure from annual professional registration and maintenance fees required to remain eligible to practise.
"Various complaints of unemployed and enrolled nurses were raised at the office of the Kenneth Human Rights Association by a number of nurses who are in various regions. We recently heard your remarks through the media regarding the availability of employment opportunities in the health sector and concerns that some job seekers are reluctant to work in the remote and rural areas."
However, the group alleges that in some cases only two or three positions are advertised, while hundreds of qualified nurses apply.
The group has proposed a centralised recruitment system, where nurses who have successfully completed the Nursing Council evaluation and meet all professional requirements are to be appointed to health facilities where staffing shortages exist.
"The unemployed nurses are therefore appealing for a greater opportunity to practise the profession in which we have invested years of education, training and personal resources and ease the long queues and outstretched waiting periods of periods waiting to be served at the clinics."
The group further says travelling between regions to attend interviews places an additional financial burden on graduates who are already unemployed.
"A possible solution would be to consider the previous system whereby a nurse who successfully completed the nursing council evaluation and met the professional and regulatory requirements could be appointed to a health facility where they identified a staffing shortage."
The group handed the petition to the Executive Director's secretary, as no one came to receive it.
Contacted for comment, the Executive Director, Penda IthindI says he will not comment on an issue, which is already public knowledge.