Striking medical interns sacked

Services at Tanzania's largest medical facility, the Muhimbili National Hospital, have deteriorated further after the government failed to resolve a dispute with medical interns who have been on strike for more than a week, demanding increased allowances. "We tried our best to convince the interns to go back to work, but it appears some of them were not ready to call off the strike," Hussein Mwinyi, the deputy minister for health, told a news conference on Tuesday when he announced the government's termination of the services of the striking interns. A total of 148 interns had been on strike: 111 doctors, 24 pharmacists and 13 nurses. Located in central Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's commercial capital, the 1,400-bed capacity Muhimbili is a teaching and referral hospital as well as a constituent college of the University of Dar es Salaam. Mwinyi appealed to other workers at the hospital to remain calm and to continue working. Patients at the hospital have complained of lack of attendance from the non-striking staff. Mwinyi said no patient had died because of the strike. He also refuted reports that resident doctors had downed their tools in solidarity with the striking interns. The hospital's management had ordered the interns to vacate their dormitories by Tuesday but Mwinyi extended the deadline saying the government would issue a special form on Wednesday for those willing to resume work. "We are also going to be a bit more flexible as a gesture of humanity," he added. The interns were demanding an increase on their monthly allowance, which is 80 per cent of the 201,000 Tanzanian shillings (US $200) monthly salary of a newly hired doctor in government service. The interns said their allowances were inadequate, as they were not entitled to any other benefits. They demanded at least a 20 percent increase, saying they do more work at the hospital than their fully employed colleagues and senior professionals. An in-patient at the hospital, Kessy Kasongo, said doctors were no longer making ward rounds. "When the interns were around visits to patients were regular but now it is very rare to see a doctor around," he said. "Some of us have exhausted our medicine, we don't know what to do." Outpatients who had appointments with specialist doctors were advised to return after one month because the consultants were overwhelmed by work.