Government fires striking doctors

By Lance Guma
19 January 2007

Deputy Health Minister Edwin Muguti has said all doctors who did not heed a government ultimatum to return to work by close of business Wednesday are considered to have resigned and they should vacate government accommodation. Doctors are currently on strike demanding an increase in their salaries from Z$56 000 to Z$5 million per month. Government says it increased their salaries but has so far refused to disclose any figures adding instead that the doctors should wait to see the amounts on their payslips. The doctors have said this is not acceptable and have since ignored the ultimatum to return to work.

A spokesman for the doctors told journalists in Harare that none of the doctors have been given dismissal letters yet. Several meetings have failed to break the impasse between the doctors and government with some analysts saying the government was not negotiating in good faith, hence its refusal to disclose details of the reported increases. Dr Henry Madzorere the shadow health secretary in the opposition says the strike has not been handled properly and the government took too long to respond to the doctors demands. The strike initially started by junior doctors is now in its fourth week and has seen senior doctors and nurses joining in.

Nurses in Harare and Bulawayo are said to have put in demands for their salaries to increase to Z$3 million a month. Dr Madzorere told Newsreel that doctors are grossly underpaid and only, ‘earn enough to buy two loaves of bread every day for a month. What about transport, school fees and things like that?’ He added that the reason government is unwilling to disclose the percentage of the increases was because the amounts were embarrassingly low and they know doctors will not accept the package. He says the regime is trying to buy time by forcing the doctors back to work and hopefully break the momentum of the strike.

Zimbabwe’s health sector is not the only one to be plagued by strikes. Workers at the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) and council workers in Gwanda have also participated in industrial action. The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) this week issued government with a 14-day notice of its intention to go on strike if teacher’s salaries are not reviewed.