Zambia's health care system has a huge black hole punctured by the massive brain drain of nurses and doctors, according to Zambia Daily Mail on Tuesday.

Economic down-turns for much of the past two decades has seen a massive exodus of health workers to Europe, America, South Africa and Botswana among others for greener pastures resulting a high staff shortfall to the tune of 41 percent, the newspaper reported Tuesday.

A study by the country's health ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that between January 2003 and June 2004 Zambia lost as many as 790 health workers, of which 271 resigned and 314 died.

Of the required establishment of 1,266 doctors it needs, only 646 are available, meaning the system is operating at half-mast. Zambia needs 16,732 nurses but only 8,706 are available. In 2002 alone, 200 trained Zambia nurses registered in Britain.

According to a study by the USAID-funded Health Systems Services Program (HSSP), in 2004, average monthly wage for a Zambian doctor stood at 425 U.S. dollars compared to 10,554 U.S. dollars in the United States and 2,836 dollars in neighboring South Africa.

For a Zambian nurse the average monthly wage stood at 106 U.S. dollars against 3,056 dollars in the United States and 1,486 dollars in South Africa.

Source: Xinhua