Relief for patients at referral hospitals

Mash West Correspondent
Referral hospitals in Mashonaland West have started attending to patients following the end of an industrial action by doctors on Sunday. An agreement between Government, through the Health Services Board (HSB), and doctors was recently reached after protracted negotiations.

In an interview yesterday, the Ministry of Health and Child Care provincial health promotions officer, Mr George Kambondo, said doctors had since started reporting for duty.

“This follows Government’s directive for them to end the strike and patients are now receiving their medical attention as usual,” he said.

Some patients interviewed by The Herald hailed Government’s successful effort to end the impasse.
Mrs Tariro Muzvere, who was struggling to get medical attention for pneumonia since Friday last week, said it was comforting to learn that the strike by doctors had ended.

“I want to thank President Mnangagwa for this intervention because I almost died,” she said.
An expecting mother, who elected to remain anonymous, said the end of the strike could not come soon enough as she spent $1 000 at a private clinic for an emergency.