By Rudo Saungweme
Following the statement issued by Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Obadiah Moyo during the weekend to take disciplinary action on doctors who will fail to report to work this Monday, Government is due to take legal action today on doctors who chose to stay away from their work stations yesterday.
“Further to the statement I issued on Saturday October the 5th 2019 regarding the ongoing withdrawal of labour by some of our doctors, I today made an assessment of the situation at our public health institutions and noted that some of the doctors did not take heed of the appeal that we made for them to come back to work this morning at 8 o’clock and still chose to stay away from their work stations.
“Government is therefore allowing due legal process to continue with the labour court scheduled for tomorrow, wherein the labour court will determine the legality of the mass job action,” said Dr Moyo Dr Moyo in a statement yesterday.
However, Dr Moyo said Government continued to be grateful to those doctors and other health care workers who had remained on their post of duty delivering care, saving lives and alleviating suffering.
He added that Government was doing all it could to improve the lives of all civil servants in this austerity period.
The Health Service Bipartite Negotiating Panel (HSBNP), agreed last week to increase Health Sector Specific Allowance by 60 percent which was rejected by the doctor`s representatives.
There are divisions within the doctors with the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) seemingly pushed by an underhand.
