Doctors cautiously welcome pay offer

Walking the corridors of Zambia's largest hospital gives the average visitor, let alone its patients, an overwhelming sense of despair. Lusaka's University Teaching hospital lacks drugs and equipment. Its doctors and support staff are poorly paid and morale is low, impacting on the quality of care provided to the long-suffering patients. Last week, the almost 300-strong Resident Doctors Association (RDA) went on a two-day strike, demanding better pay and conditions. They returned to work after the government agreed to a 120 percent to 300 percent salary hike, but remain cautious over whether the government will stick to the deal. "We have carried out studies in the region to find out how much our colleagues earn. A doctor with the same qualifications as ours earns about US $2,000 in the region and works in a hospital that has drugs to administer to patients... We have no drugs and we are grossly underpaid, but the government does not want to rectify this anomaly," RDA president, Dr Ameck Kamanga, told IRIN. The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, which collects data on Zambia's cost of living, calculates that a family of six needs roughly US $200 a month to cover the cost of a "basic needs basket". A Zambian doctor, after seven years in training for a medical degree, earns a gross salary of about US $489 before income tax deductions of 30 percent. To make ends meet, most doctors moonlight at private clinics, earning between US $20 and US $25 per five-hour shift. "We are constantly and persistently out of drugs, especially antibiotics, while the equipment we use is obsolete. We have to improvise both on medicine and equipment and yet the government, through the Central Board of Health [CBOH], is fully aware of our grievances," Kamanga said. Although the doctors are back at work, they have vowed to take indefinite strike action if the government fails to stick to its salary agreement. They point out that last week's industrial action was due to the government responding with a 25 percent hike to their demand for a 120 percent to 300 percent rise. "Because of this insensitivity towards the doctors' needs, most of our colleagues are seeking greener pastures in Namibia, South Africa and Botswana, where they are valued. After the last round of negotiations, many doctors asked for my assurance that things would be okay before they make a move to Namibia or some such destination and they were disappointed that the RDA gave them false hope, so they are now packing and ready to go," said Kamanga. CBOH director Dr Ben Chirwa has assured the RDA that their problems will be "sorted" at the end of the month.