Zimbabwe government doctors went on strike today saying they can no longer afford to go to work because their salaries are too low.
“We are not in the wards, we are not at the hospitals. We simply do not have the means, we are incapacitated,” Peter Magombeyi, president of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, said.
Salaries are fast losing value as the southern African country battles a currency crisis and triple-digit inflation.
A junior doctor’s monthly salary in the Zimbabwe currency is now equivalent to around US$100, Magombeyi said.
“We don’t have money for transport, we don’t have money for food, we don’t have money to pay our kids schools fees, we don’t have rental and we can’t keep on subsidising the employer anymore.”
Talks with the government yesterday failed to yield any solution.
“We were called to a meeting yesterday and they don’t have any solid answer, they didn’t give a position which addresses our concerns,” said Magombeyi.
The doctors want salaries to be pegged to the prevailing foreign exchange interbank rates.
This is the second time in less than a year that government doctors have embarked on a work stoppage.
They went on strike in December over salaries and conditions, and only called it off after 40 days on promises to resolve their grievances.
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