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They say they get 33 US cents per hour and want this increased to US$10 an hour.
The striking doctors said nurses — whose service packages are supplemented by donor support — get up to US$8 per hour and they could no longer countenance getting  less.

Dozens of patients — some of  them in apparent agony — waited     to get attention while the junior     doctors gathered outside their  residence and vowed not to work     until their grievances were addre-ssed.
A woman from Southerton, who said she had been injured while working in her field, said she had spent the better part of the day without being attended to.
“I came here at around 11am and it is already 4pm, but no one has assisted me.
“We heard some of the doctors saying they could not work without money but no one is really telling us what is going on,” she lamented.

One doctor said the grievance for allowances was uniform across the board for State junior doctors but “maybe some of our colleagues are in comfort zones” because they could be getting incentives that they did not receive at Harare Hospital.
“We understand that our emplo-yer cannot afford to increase our salaries but what we want are allowances like nurses and laboratory scientists.”

The doctors, who are on housemanship, said they could not look for employment elsewhere as consultants because they were bonded for two years after graduation to work for the State.
“They are doing what they want with us because there is no-          where we can go,” complained one doctor.
He added: “On average we attend to at least 70 patients a day. If you are working at the casualty department sometimes you handle more than 15 people who need suturing, which is a very risky practice, yet there is no risk allowance for that,” complained another junior doctor.

The doctors said they had been trying to engage hospital management on the issue of on-call allowances since November last year but nothing had materialised.
In a memorandum addressed to Harare Hospital’s clinical director and dated January 31, 2011 the doctors said: “Our prior calls for engagement have been unsuccessful being either ignored or lightly dismissed as if petty.
“Our patience has been stretched, we have no other option but to down tools until there is satisfactory movement on the part of the authorities to address our concerns.”

Harare Hospital acting chief executive officer Mr George Vera said while they agree that doctors’ on-call allowances were low, they should be “reasonable, considerate and patient”.
Mr Vera said the doctors were sailing in the same boat as all other civil servants in Zimbabwe.
“I met them last week and explained to that at this point in time, their employer (Government) cannot afford to respond to their grievances because of the economic situation prevailing in the country.
“They should just be reasonable, considerate and patient to make their demands at a best possible time,” Mr Vera said.
Junior doctors have an average net salary of US$250.-The Herald