Zimpapers Logo

JUNIOR doctors working at government hospitals on Monday downed tools thereby paralysing health service delivery. Hundreds of patients were left stranded as affected hospitals were forced to attend to emergencies only. In Bulawayo junior doctors at both Mpilo Central Hospital and United Bulawayo Hospitals joined the nationwide strike.

The two are the major referral hospitals for Matabeleland, Midlands and Masvingo provinces. The situation was reported to be the same in Harare where hundreds of patients were also left stranded at both Harare Central Hospital and Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals. The striking doctors want their salaries increased from the basic $282 a month to $1,200. Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association president Dr Fortune Nyamande said the doctors resorted to industrial action after realising that meetings with the Ministry of Health and Child Care over their poor working conditions were yielding nothing.

He said apart from the review of their salaries, doctors want their on-call as well as housing allowances increased. “We want the housing allowance to be increased from $250 to $350,” he said.

Dr Nyamande said the government should also allow doctors to import cars duty-free as the cars were essential tools of the job given the fact that they at times work during odd hours.

Responding to the doctors’ strike, Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa said the government was taking the doctors grievances seriously. He said the government wanted the issue resolved as quickly as possible. Dr Parirenyatwa said the government would not want to see a situation whereby patients suffer as a result of being denied services at its hospitals.

He said the doctors should engage his ministry as well as the Health Services Board to discuss their grievances.
It is comforting to learn that the government is taking the doctors’ grievances seriously but what is disturbing is that doctors are saying their negotiations with government are yielding nothing.

The doctors have in fact warned that they will not engage in further negotiations unless the government comes up with tangible offers.
It is therefore important for both the government and the striking doctors to negotiate in good faith if they are to come up with a lasting solution. What both parties involved in collective bargaining negotiations should appreciate is that for them to converge, the two parties should allow room for compromise.

It is a fact that government is facing serious cash-flow challenges hence it failed to fulfill its promise to review salaries for the entire civil service last July. It is not only the doctors that are not being paid salaries commensurate with their qualifications but the entire civil service.

What the government could immediately offer the striking doctors are incentives such as allowing them to import cars duty-free.
Cars are essential tools for doctors as they enable them to respond promptly to distress calls. We want to once again implore both the government and the striking doctors to, without delay, come to the negotiating table and urgently resolve their dispute. The obtaining situation should not be allowed to persist a day longer