President condemns doctors’ strike

Zambian President Frederick Chiluba has condemned a strike by junior doctors’ saying that the action was aimed at blackmailing the government. Chiluba told state television that the Zambian government was committed to providing good health care to patients and that it was ready to listen to the doctors’ grievances. “I am a unionist myself and I’m dealing with the strike with a lot of empathy, but doctors’ stay-away from work meant that patients were given a prescription for death.” Junior doctors went on strike on 21 December to call for improved conditions within state hospitals and to demand a wage increase. Over the weekend Cuban doctors were called in to take over from senior staff who had been treating all emergencies and the most critical cases. But Zambian medical experts were quoted as saying that the Cuban doctors were finding it difficult because of the language barrier.