REPRESENTATIVES of the 400 striking doctors at public hospitals have been summoned to an urgent meeting with Health and Child Care minister David Parirenyatwa today to discuss the latest “communication from Cabinet Office” regarding their two-week-long industrial action. STAFF REPORTER
In a letter dated November 7, addressed to Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association (ZHDA) president Fortune Nyamande, Health ministry permanent secretary Gerald Gwinji said the meeting would be held at Parirenyatwa’s offices this morning.
Gwinji stated the agenda of the meeting as “communication from Cabinet Office”.
Junior doctors at government hospitals have been on strike for the past two weeks to press for a pay rise of around 400%, in addition to a review of their housing, transport and risk allowances.
Senior and middle-level doctors have since joined the strike, forcing government to rope in doctors from the security sector as a stop gap measure.
The situation has spawned a rise in the numbers of low-cost private clinics to cater for the poor, as the skeleton staff at public hospitals were only attending to emergencies while turning away non-critical patients.
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The salary negotiations stalled after government refused to commit itself to a review citing limited fiscal space.
Zimbabwe government hospitals have, since independence in 1980, suffered perennial staff shortages, low staff morale as well as a lack of equipment and essential drugs.