The collapse of health services has left him looking for other options, but not in Zimbabwe.
"I have been working as a nurse for the past seven years, and with each
passing year I become more distraught by the state of our health
delivery system. This year [2008] marks the height of the degeneration
of public hospitals and clinics.
Cholera updateÂ
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on 12 December the death toll from Zimbabwe’s cholera outbreak had risen to 792.
The number of reported cholera cases was 16,700.
Contradicting Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s claim that the
disease had been "arrested", WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told
international media in Geneva: "I don’t think that the cholera outbreak
[in Zimbabwe] is under control as of now."
Mugabe was quoted in the state-owned daily newspaper, The Herald, as
saying: "I am happy to say our doctors, assisted by others and the
World Health Organisation, have now arrested cholera. So, now that
there is no cholera, there is no cause for war anymore."
There have been growing calls for Mugabe to be removed by force, should
he not step down voluntarily, by leaders in the West and also prominent
figures in Africa, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Desmond Tutu.
"For the first time in the history of this country, government
hospitals virtually closed down as doctors and nurses went on strike
for the umpteenth time, pressing for better working conditions.
"Yes, we have been striking frequently, but at no time did we hear of
hospitals sending patients  some of them in critical condition  home
to die on their own.
"What makes the closure of the hospitals even more pathetic is the fact
that it coincided with a widespread outbreak of cholera. As a nurse, I
was trained to be compassionate to patients.
"Honestly speaking, I now feel like a mortuary attendant because people
die around me every day, even though in some of the cases, the deaths
could have been avoided. The hospital has become a place where people
come to prepare for death, rather than being saved.
"Hospitals are admitting patients, even with the full knowledge that
there are no drugs, equipment or food with which to help the sick. What
pains in this case is that the patients are left with huge medical
bills to settle, despite the fact that they are hardly receiving any
help.
"Worse still, patients’ relatives find it difficult to settle the bills
because they cannot access enough money from their banks, due to
unrealistic withdrawal limits.
"Imagine – it is now student nurses and doctors who are being deployed
to the hospitals to deal with a few cases, mostly involving cholera,
following the withdrawal of services by those that are qualified.
"The students are supposed to be learning their professions, but they
are now being used like people who know the trade. What are they
learning when there is noâ€â€one to lead them? What kind of help are they
giving to the patients that have remained in hospital?
"I feel pity for the sick, because at times there are no detergents to
wash their blankets with; this exposes them to lice and communicable
diseases.
"Right now, there is hardly any protective clothing for nurses and
doctors, meaning that those that attend to the sick, particularly the
cholera patients, are at a high risk of being infected themselves.
Looking for a wayout
"I have been battling to get a visa to go to the UK, where most of my
former workmates have now settled. I will keep on trying but if I fail
completely, I am thinking of going to either Botswana or South Africa
to take up any kind of job that will pay me better than this
profession.
"I don’t mind even becoming a farm worker, as long as I earn foreign
currency. As it stands now, I can hardly make ends meet. My salary is
worth only a week’s transport expenses. I have a family to look after,
and my wife has been forced to sell vegetables to supplement my income