Zimpapers Logo

Dr Parirenyatwa

Loveness Bepete Chronicle Reporter
A MEETING between doctors’ representative body, the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), and Health and Childcare Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa yesterday failed to break a week-long strike by doctors. Junior doctors went on strike on October 27 pushing for a salary of $1,200 from $282 per month, exclusive of allowances.

ZHDA’s Media and Public Relations Officer, Francis Rwodzi, said Dr Parirenyatwa pleaded with the doctors to go back to work while the government looks at their wage demands.

Rwodzi said Dr Parirenyatwa informed the association that the issue of doctors’ welfare has since been taken over by the Cabinet.

“We refused to return to work because we won’t be able to convince our members to go back to work without any tangible formal agreement,” Rwodzi said.

“Doctors would only return to work once the government offers them a written commitment to improve their welfare,” he added.

He said ministers had promised to give them feedback before close of business yesterday, but they were still to receive it.

Rwodzi said their employer could be sabotaging the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset) by failing to honour one of its key pillars: that people should have access to health. He said the situation was getting worse by the day as senior doctors have also joined the strike.

At the United Bulawayo Hospitals, there was a notice posted by middle level doctors about the strike. It said: “Considering the current strike by housemen, we have seen it fit for us as middle level doctors to withdraw our services with immediate effect. This is because the same issues affecting the striking doctors affect us even more and we are aggrieved by the lack of urgency by which it is being handled.”

Dr Parirenyatwa confirmed that his ministry was engaged in discussions with the striking doctors.

The minister was, however, reluctant to reveal more details on his meeting with the doctors saying such issues were not for the media.

He acknowledged that the doctors’ strike was crippling the health service. “We’re engaged in discussions with doctors and no-one wants the crippling of the health service. I can’t, however, discuss the outcome of our meeting with the press,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.

When our news crew visited Mpilo Central Hospital, there were only five people in the outpatient department, with nurses turning most of the patients away.