Zimbabwe health and finance ministers met on Monday to discuss a pay package for junior doctors, on strike since last week for better pay and conditions, news reports said.
Some 400 junior doctors went on strike on Tuesday forcing the country's major hospitals to discharge all but critically ill patients and only admit emergency cases. They said they were protesting not only their salaries - around US $395 gross - but also the decay of Zimbabwe's health service.
President Robert Mugabe has voiced sympathy for the doctors but appealed to them to return to work while negotiations took place. Two years ago, the government dismissed junior doctors who had taken similar action.
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