Category: Press Statements

Doctors’ absence prolongs patients’ suffering

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ORDINARY citizens whose pockets are not deep enough to afford private medical care continue to bear the brunt of the ongoing stand-off between medical doctors — who have been on industrial action for over two months now — and government. People with various ailments are gambling with death as many have since stopped going to seek medical attention at public hospitals, where they are routinely turned away due to the unavailability of doctors. Hope in the public health system recuperating and going back on its feet has been lost and…

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Chaos as govt fires over 200 doctors

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GOVERNMENT yesterday fired 211 doctors at public hospitals for going o strike to demand better pay, with another 500 at risk. Doctors have been on strike since September 3 demanding salaries that are indexed to the United States dollar to escape triple digit inflation that has ravaged wages. The Health Services Board fired the doctors after holding disciplinary hearings which the striking doctors did not attend and said it planned to hold another round of hearings for at least 516 out of the 1 601 doctors employed in the public…

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Zimbabwe runs out of contraceptives

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BY VANESSA GONYE Public hospital doctors have lashed out at the Health Services Board (HSB) for firing 77 doctors since Tuesday. Addressing Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association (ZHDA) members and the media at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals yesterday, the association’s vice-president Masimba Ndoro said the move by government was costly, especially on citizens who have no healthcare givers. “This is an abnormal situation which requires solutions not to waste taxpayers’ money. It is a move we have anticipated; we knew they would take that route as we started our strike. It…

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Victoria Falls Hospital has no ICU, drugs

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HWANGE district’s biggest referral health institution, Victoria Falls Hospital, is running without emergency facilities and basic medication, a development which is compromising service delivery in the event of a disaster in the country’s prime tourist resort. Doctors at the institution said there was no functional intensive care unit (ICU) and related supplies such as oxygen synthesisers. A government medical officer, Michael Jeans, recently told United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, Brian Nichols that in cases of emergency, it takes about six hours for patients to be evacuated to the nearest health…

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Gvt To Blame For Recurrent Doctors Strikes- CWGH

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FAILURE by government to come up with a pro poor national budget which priorities basic health needs, is the leading cause for perennial strikes by medical doctors and other health staff, the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) has said. By Michael Gwarisa Within a single year, doctors have twice embarked on nationwide strikes that have crippled operations at all major health institutions resulting in the untold suffering of patients and possibly numerous deaths that could have been avoided. CWGH Executive Director Mr Itai Rusike said it was shocking that…

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