Senior hospital doctors have with immediate effect withdrawn their labor citing government’s failure to address their grievances which among other things include poor remuneration, inadequate resources and an unsafe working environment.
In a letter to the Acting health permanent secretary, the Zimbabwe Senior Doctors Association expressed disappointment over the government’s failure to meet their grievances which they said were valid and necessary in enabling reasonable service delivery.
“It was our hope that there would be some attempt by government to meet the requests made by doctors which we believe to be very valid and necessary in enabling reasonable service delivery,” reads the letter.
The doctors said they were also disappointed that government’s response to their grievances failed to address matters at hand but rather an explanation of how the situation degenerated to where it is now.
“We feel quite disappointed that all we got is really an explanation of how we got where we are and how it is going to remain the same.
“This has been the pattern even in times before your tenure and we really hoped for implementable solutions this time around. Since the status quo is going to persist, we regret to advise that our members will now proceed with work stoppage until its safe and fair to return to our posts,” read the statement.
The doctors urged government to reconsider the interests of patients and workforce.
