Doctors' strike hits hospitals

Government hospitals in Zimbabwe were handling only emergency cases on Wednesday after an estimated 400 junior doctors launched a nation-wide strike, news reports said. News reports said that interns stayed away from work to protest poor salaries, overwork and declining health services. Nyasha Masuka, president of the Hospital Doctors' Association, was quoted by AFP as saying: "Junior doctors are doing the work of five doctors because the health service is so short-staffed. We sometimes work 56 hours continuously. We are also watching patients die because some hospitals do not have the proper equipment. Harare Hospital has no syringes, no gloves, and sometimes patients bleed to death because there are no blood supplies," Masuka added. Masuka said junior doctors had to work in government service for two years after qualifying, where they received about US $400 a month. He said that after deductions for tax, rent and pensions the doctors take home about US $160. This strike action by the doctors is the latest in a series of strikes by workers demanding pay increases to match inflation, which is running at a record rate of 68.8 percent