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Strikes and Protests 2007/8 - Doctors and Nurses strikes
Some
Zimbabwean doctors back at work, union says
Reuters
January 03, 2008
Visit
the index of articles on the doctors' and nurses' strikes
http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN334654.html
Some of Zimbabwe's
striking state doctors have returned to work on humanitarian grounds
but most are still holding out for higher pay, the head of the doctors'
union said on Thursday.
Amon Siveregi, president
of the Zimbabwe's Hospital Doctors Association, told Reuters the
industrial action had not been called off, contrary to reports in
the state media.
"We have not called
it off," Siveregi said. "Negotiations with the ministry
continue, and while it's true that some doctors are turning up for
work on humanitarian grounds, that doesn't mean the strike is over."
Strikes by government
doctors and nurses have become a frequent occurrence as their salaries
have been eroded by the world's highest inflation rate -- officially
put at about 8,000 percent, although analysts say the figure could
be double that.
When the doctors' strike
began in late December, President Robert Mugabe's government brought
in army medical personnel to deal with serious cases, while other
patients were turned away.
The state-controlled
Herald newspaper on Thursday reported that most doctors had returned
to work after the government approved loans worth Z$100 million
for all state employees, including health workers.
Health Ministry officials
were not immediately available to comment.
Staff at private clinics
have not joined the strike, but most Zimbabweans receive medical
care through state hospitals and clinics.
Zimbabwe continues to
lose thousands of health workers who abandon the country in search
of better-paid jobs in South Africa, Britain and Australia, hitting
a sector already burdened by shortages of drugs and the effects
of HIV and AIDS.
Economic analysts have
said Zimbabwe is likely to see more strikes in 2008 by dissatisfied
workers grappling with an economic recession marked by soaring inflation,
shortages of foreign currency, food and fuel, and rising unemployment.
Mugabe, 83 and in power
since independence from Britain in 1980, denies accusation of mismanaging
the economy and says it has been sabotaged by Western countries
as punishment for his seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless
blacks.
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