Zimbabwe fires 77 striking doctors, making its hospital crisis even worse in the process.
On the 29th of October, a ‘disciplinary hearing’ for 80 doctors took place by the health services board of Zimbabwe. 77 of these charged doctors were found guilty of what they allegedly committed and were immediately fired.
What did they do?
The 80 doctors went on strike. “They were pressing for better salaries and better working conditions,” stated the Information and Publicity Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, at a news conference after the cabinet meeting.
“Cabinet was informed by the minister of health and childcare that the public hospitals’ medical doctors strike has now gone beyond 63 days. Medical services at most central hospitals, therefore, remain constrained.” This is the apparent reason why Zimbabwe fired 77 of the 80 doctors that went on strike.
However, by doing this, Zimbabwe made its hospital crisis even worse than before by paralyzing all major public hospitals in the country. To try to alleviate the problem, the government of Zimbabwe is now temporarily using military doctors to help patients while they negotiate with Cuba to help them with its lack of medical workers.
The response
In response to the doctors getting fired, the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association have stated, “Whilst the Zimbabwean citizens and the government of Zimbabwe have entrusted them [the health services board] with a simple mandate of resolving the crisis in our healthcare system, they have shaken the nation by firing the very few doctors in the country.”
Let’s hope that conditions improve for our brethren in Zimbabwe, doctors and patients alike.
