By CWGH
THE current stalemate between government and the striking doctors over poor working conditions, poor remuneration and absence of the tools of trade has taken too long to address and has caused untold suffering and deaths across the country.
Doctors in the country’s public health institutions have been on strike since August this year. So far, the government fired at least 435 doctors after they turned down its offer of 70% salary increment.
An offer by telecommunication mogul Strive Masiyiwa’s Higherlife Foundation to pay the doctors has divided the striking medical practitioners, who fall under the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association (ZHDA). A splinter association with suspected links to the government, the Progressive Doctors’ Association of Zimbabwe (PDAZ), was launched recently to represent those willing to go back to work, further complicating the dialogue process.
The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH), which is mediating in the protracted labour dispute between doctors and the Health Services Board (HSB), has been pleading with the two parties to reconsider the positions for benefit of patients.
Both parties should bear in mind that more than 90% of the country’s citizens depend on the underfunded and understaffed public health system. There was need to prioritize patients and the vulnerable populations in the dialogue to resolve the crisis.
Strikes by health workers including doctors have become so frequent in Zimbabwe, at times three times in a year. It is also regrettable that previous dialogues between health workers and government over salary and better working conditions have not yielded concrete and long-lasting solutions. CWGH urges government to honour previous and future promises to health workers to build trust between dialoging stakeholders.
CWGH believes that addressing health challenges requires total political commitment to implementing the primary health care concept to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) to ensure that every Zimbabwean enjoys the right to health.
The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) comprises 40 national and regional community based organisations representing or serving various constituent community interests (labour, peasant farmers, women, disabled, church, residents consumers etc) who have joined to collectively review experiences of health and health care and propose strategies for enhancing health and the health sector, and in particular community participation in health.
THE current stalemate between government and the striking doctors over poor working conditions, poor remuneration and absence of the tools of trade has taken too long to address and has caused untold suffering and deaths across the country.
Doctors in the country’s public health institutions have been on strike since August this year. So far, the government fired at least 435 doctors after they turned down its offer of 70% salary increment.
An offer by telecommunication mogul Strive Masiyiwa’s Higherlife Foundation to pay the doctors has divided the striking medical practitioners, who fall under the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association (ZHDA). A splinter association with suspected links to the government, the Progressive Doctors’ Association of Zimbabwe (PDAZ), was launched recently to represent those willing to go back to work, further complicating the dialogue process.
The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH), which is mediating in the protracted labour dispute between doctors and the Health Services Board (HSB), has been pleading with the two parties to reconsider the positions for benefit of patients.
Both parties should bear in mind that more than 90% of the country’s citizens depend on the underfunded and understaffed public health system. There was need to prioritize patients and the vulnerable populations in the dialogue to resolve the crisis.
Strikes by health workers including doctors have become so frequent in Zimbabwe, at times three times in a year. It is also regrettable that previous dialogues between health workers and government over salary and better working conditions have not yielded concrete and long-lasting solutions. CWGH urges government to honour previous and future promises to health workers to build trust between dialoging stakeholders.
CWGH believes that addressing health challenges requires total political commitment to implementing the primary health care concept to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) to ensure that every Zimbabwean enjoys the right to health.
The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) comprises 40 national and regional community based organisations representing or serving various constituent community interests (labour, peasant farmers, women, disabled, church, residents consumers etc) who have joined to collectively review experiences of health and health care and propose strategies for enhancing health and the health sector, and in particular community participation in health.
Comments
Post a Comment