The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Zambia says it has investigated about 40 maternal cases involving nurses and midwives in the last year and this year where negligence was suspected.
Council Registrar Beauty Zimba said the cases were subjected to internal prescriptions to establish whether a nurse was supposed to undertake a specific procedure and failed to do so.
Speaking during a media training in Chilanga, Zimba said once evidence of negligence was established, the Council charges the nurse to explain how the patient was managed.
Zimba said the Council was also considering recruitment requirements and how staffing levels were taken into consideration in handling such cases.
“These cases will have about 40 maternal and midwife last year and this year where we’ve investigated cases. There are some prescriptions where we found that there was or the nurse was supposed to undertake this procedure and then they did not do it,” she said.
Zimba explained that after being charged, the nurse was given an opportunity to respond before being called to appear before the professional conduct committee.
“And once we find that there is evidence that there was then they are able to charge, the process that they call, they charge the nurse, the nurse will explain themselves how they manage that patient. And when we want to look at their response we call them for a meeting which is called the professional conduct committee,” she said.
According to Zimba, the committee assesses the response and determines whether the nurse needs technical support or should face further disciplinary action.
“There are some cases where you only that nurse so that and give them the support. There are some cases where we find that really here there is a case where they need to be answerable. Then they go to the disciplinary committee,” she said.
She said most of the cases handled by the Council are those requiring support and mentorship for nurses, while a few proceed to the disciplinary committee for sanctions.
Zimba said the Council would continue to provide technical support on what nurses are supposed to do while ensuring accountability in maternal health care.
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Meanwhile, Zimba said the council fully supports the allocation of 40,000 positions for health workers, under the recently signed 2026-2030 Health Cooperation agreement between Zambia and the United States Government.*
“The recruitment drive by the Ministry of Health presents an opportunity to increase the number of nurses and midwives in the health sector, although more health workers are still needed,” she said.
Zimba stated that the Council would provide guidance on the recruitment process by offering information on registered nurses and midwives, including their numbers, categories and areas of specialization.
She also noted that despite the significant recruitment of nurses in recent years, the country still faced a need for additional nursing personnel to meet the demands of the health sector.
The deal provides a combined multi-billion-dollar framework to strengthen Zambia’s health system and it supports recruitment of 40,000 health workers, which includes 15,000 frontline staff and 25,000 community health workers.
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