Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is seeking medical treatment in Singapore while his country’s hospitals have been turning away the sick.
Operations in public hospitals have suffered another blow after nurses joined in on the ongoing doctors’ strike. Medical personnel have been engaged in an industrial action for the past two weeks demanding better conditions and pay.
Critics have accused Mugabe of running down his country’s health system, saying his continued trips to Singapore for medical treatment are further crippling an already desperate situation in Zimbabwe.
Nurses and midwives at the public hospitals have joined the doctors’ two-week strike putting pressure on the cash-strapped government to pay last year’s bonuses.
“The situation in the hospitals is deteriorating, it’s quite sad, patients are suffering. We really feel for the patients. Remember these patients are our brothers, our mothers our fathers. We have actually been urging the government each and every day to just quickly bring an offer on the table so that we resume our job and save lives,” said vice president of Zimbabwe hospital doctors association, Dr Calvin Moyo.
Health workers say they can’t even afford the very service they offer.
“Life has been very tough if you are junior doctor to the extent that some of our colleagues we cannot afford to pay for our own medical health. When a colleague gets sick, we have to go and beg authorities to allow them to be treated for free,” added Moyo.
With no solution in sight for the doctors, some civil servants have resolved to embark on a strike starting next Monday.
However, the Finance Ministry says they are working hard to avert another strike.
– By TV Desk
