A leading Roman Catholic rights group in Zimbabwe urged the government on Sunday to address the grievances of striking state doctors, saying their weeks-old action was hurting poor patients.
”The strike by junior doctors has caused untold human suffering and loss of life to many,” the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe said in a statement.
”The doctors have a right to strike if the employer is insensitive to their needs which are not out of this world. The longer the dispute is not resolved the more the ordinary people will suffer.”
Junior doctors at Zimbabwe’s four main state hospitals began their work boycott nearly four weeks ago when they limited the number of patients they treated. The action soon escalated into an all-out strike.
The doctors are demanding that their salaries be raised from the current Z$56 000 ($224) to $Z5-million a month.
The group ignored calls from Health Minister David Parirenyatwa to end their strike after being offered an undisclosed salary package by the government.
Patients are bearing the brunt of the crisis as nurses, state health consultants and some doctors battle to attend to overwhelming numbers.
Last week the health ministry called on army medics to step in and augment skeleton staff at some hospitals.
State hospitals cater for the majority of the population who cannot afford fees charged by private hospitals.
Zimbabwe is in the throes of a severe economic recession characterised by four-digit inflation, massive unemployment and chronic shortages of drugs in state hospitals and basic foodstuffs such as sugar and the staple cornmeal.
State health institutions have been hit by an exodus of key staff, including specialist doctors, pharmacists and nurses to countries like Australia, Botswana, Britain, New Zealand and neighbouring South Africa. – Sapa-AFP