Zimbabwean doctors ‘begrudgingly’ end six-week strike
With the government not agreeing to demands — such as having more and better medical facilities — the doctors trudge back to work
Zimbabwean doctors say they have “begrudgingly” called off a six-week long strike that crippled the country’s fragile health sector. The end of the strike by doctors is likely to give some respite to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, which lately has been hard-pressed by growing disquiet among its employees over the worsening economic environment and poor working conditions. Among the demands the doctors had was that government pay their salaries in (US) dollars and also adequately supply public hospitals with medical sundries and medicines. In a statement on Thursday, the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) said the industrial action, which began in early December, was a reminder to authorities that the health sector was “deteriorating” and in need of urgent intervention. “It should not take 40 days with doctors on strike for the ministry of health and child care to act and restore normal service delivery in government health institutions,” the association said. O...
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