Senior doctors walk out as strike pressure intensifies
By Tererai Karimakwenda
10 January 2007

Several organisations have urged the Zimbabwe government to find a solution to the ongoing doctors strike as the situation becomes more critical. The Crisis Coalition released a statement that said senior doctors (consultants) have joined the industrial action because they needed the demands by junior staff to be met. According to the statement, only 11out of 350 doctors at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare reported for work Wednesday. Our sources said patients are being turned away at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo and several other hospitals as the strike continues in its 3rd week without any response from the health ministry.
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) has called upon the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to take urgent steps to resolve the ongoing strike by junior doctors. Spokesperson Primrose Matambanadzo said Parirenyatwa and Harare Hospitals were treating emergency cases only. She said some patients were waiting days to be treated. A statement released by the ZADHR Wednesday said “the strike has severely compromised the standard of healthcare at the country’s major referral hospitals since 21 December 2006.” It urged the Ministry of Health and other relevant government departments to resolve the crisis immediately in order to “prevent further loss of life and unavailability of health care.”
Reports said the Health Minister David Parirenyatwa initially denied any knowledge of the strike, but on Tuesday he finally met with representatives of the doctors to discuss their grievances. Parirenyatwa did not respond immediately. Matambanadzo said government was not treating the situation with enough urgency or assigning it a level of high priority. She said further delay will force more doctors to seek greener pastures because they are living below the poverty datum line. The striking junior doctors currently earn Z$56,000 and are asking for a minimum Z$5 million as of January 1.
President of The Hospital Doctors Association Kudakwashe Nyamutukwa told us earlier this week they will not return to work until their needs are addressed. They have been battling for decent salaries and better working conditions from the government for years now. Nyamutukwa said going back without a raise would be like shooting themselves in the foot.