Unemployed nurses and midwives have petitioned the Malawi Government, demanding that they should be offered permanent employment within 14 days.

In a statement released on Monday, the unemployed nurses and midwives are arguing that there is a huge shortage of nurses and midwives in public hospitals across the country, which results in a huge workload among full-time nurses.

“We have noted that the ministry exploits us, unemployed nurses, as a source of cheap labor, by providing work on locum basis to cater the work shortage, in which we receive forty thousand Malawi Kwacha as a monthly salary which takes 3 to 4 to be deposited and it is not enough to fend ourselves and our families, which is making our lives very hard,” the statement reads in part.

The 5,000-member grouping of the unemployed nurses and midwives have further requested the Ministry of Health to provide them with feedback within two weeks.

“We expect to receive feedback on our raised concern failing, which will mean that we are of less value and our services are not considered in Malawi and therefore, we will withdraw our services from locum and hold nationwide demonstrations at the ministry,” they warned.

Authorities at the Ministry of Health in Lilongwe have not yet responded to the statement.