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DAY 4: Thursday 30 October 2014THE strike by the junior doctors entered its fourth day with the medics saying they were still waiting for a response from their employer. Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association secretary-general Farai Makoni said they were waiting for a response from government on what they had requested. “The doctors are still on strike while we wait for a response from our employer,” Makoni said, confirming that negotiations were ongoing.
DAY 3: Wednesday 29 October 2014:THE strike continued with no solution in sight after their salary negotiations with the Health Services Board (HSB) and the Ministry of Finance ended in a deadlock. NewsDay’s sister, The Southern Eye, reported that only two junior doctors reported for duty at the main Mpilo Hospital
“The senior medical officers and other junior doctors were told to leave in the morning, leaving behind two junior doctors, who only attended to seriously ill patients, while nurses attended to the people who came for reviews only,” an official at the hospital said.
The Mpilo Central Hospital outpatients hall was deserted, as the people who needed hospital services in the morning were turned away without being attended to.
Meanwhile, Takura Zhangazha wrote an opinion that appeared in Wednesday’s NewsDay, blaming government for the chaos in the health sector.
Click here to read Takura Zhangazha’s opinion titled State entirely to blame for health chaos
Click here to read: Two junior doctors report for duty at Mpilo Hospital
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With the strike still on, threatening to cripple the entire health sector, NewsDay, in its editorial, points to the health risk posed by the strike and calls on government to” invest more into better remuneration for health professionals so that they can compete with their counterparts in the region.” It also urges the Health Services Board “to seek audience with the aggrieved doctors and address their grievances to save the populace the protracted strike.” Click here to read the Editorial titled: Doctors’ strike puts Zim’s health at risk
DAY 1: Monday 27 October 2014:After more than a fortnight’s ultimatum, Junior Doctors at most of the country’s major referral hospitals started their strike and vowed to press on until their demands for better working conditions are addressed. 
Their demands include an upward salary review from the current $282 to a minimum of $1 200 per month excluding allowances. They are also demanding free accommodation at government-owned flats. The medical practitioners also said the government must reinstate the facility where doctors can import vehicles duty-free. Harare Central Hospital’s clinical director George Vera was quoted saying the industrial action had paralysed operations in some departments.
“The strike has affected us such that in some of the departments, we are dealing with emergencies only,” Vera said.
Health minister David Parirenyatwa confirmed the work stoppage and appealed to the negotiators to urgently resolve the impassé before the strike paralysed the health sector. “When the doctors gave their notice [to strike], I sent the Health Services Board (HSB) to get together with the doctors and work out a plan so as to come up with a way forward. The strike is unfortunate and I hope the discussions should go on so that we resolve this issue very quickly. The whole of government is very engaged with this matter,” Parirenyatwa said. Click here to read the story: Doctors’ strike cripples public hospitals
