Doctors at the country’s public health institutions have not been reporting for duty for four weeks now due “incapacitation”.
This was revealed by Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) acting Secretary-General, Dr Tawanda Zvakada in a statement in which he also claimed that attempts to engage the government have hitherto been fruitless. He said:
Several engagements have been made with the employer to come and address this impasse as a matter of emergency, but outcomes have been fruitless. We recommenced engagements with the Health Services Board (HSB) on Wednesday 25 September.
A written submission of what would be necessary to capacitate us was made. We suggested the review of our on-call allowance at the prevailing interbank rate for that month, which is a solution we consider to be viable and suitable for the current economic trends.
Dr Zvakada insisted that doctors are not on strike but have become incapacitated. He said the doctors are willing to go back to work but they are unable to do so.