Chronicle Editor
Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter
DOCTORS have started returning to work following an agreement reached with the Government which has since lifted their suspension.
The Chronicle news crew yesterday visited Mpilo Central Hospital and United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) in Bulawayo and officials at the institutions confirmed that some doctors were back at work.
The officials also noted improvements in drug supplies from Government.
Mpilo clinical director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya said at least 22 doctors had returned to work as of yesterday afternoon.
“Doctors are trickling in and I hope that the strike ends soon so that all doctors can resume their training and our patients can be attended to. So far we have 22 out of 120 doctors who have officially returned to work. The doctors were citing their personal reasons for ending the strike.
“The suspensions have been lifted and the doctors have gone through the necessary procedures to resume work,” said Dr Ngwenya.
He said it was unfortunate that doctors appeared to belong to two factions hence some of them were still reluctant to resume work.
Dr Ngwenya said the hospital will soon re-open the outpatients department, which had been closed due to the strike
“Now that the doctors are returning to work, we’ll soon re-open the outpatients department. Other departments were running smoothly as we had put in place temporary measures to make sure that the hospital functions well even with a few doctors.
“We had drafted our own way of surviving during the strike and making sure that patients are cared for. We also have sufficient supply of drugs,” said Dr Ngwenya.
UBH chief executive officer Mrs Nonhlanhla Ndlovu said 20 doctors had returned to the hospital with the rest expected to be back at work soon.
“The doctors have started returning to work and we’re in the process of re-organising the administrative procedures for them to resume work. “During the strike, we only had five doctors at work. Out of the 79, about 20 have returned and we expect the rest of them to be officially at work soon. We hope to have re-opened our outpatients department by Wednesday,” said Mrs Ndlovu.
She said drug supplies at the hospital had significantly improved.
The doctors’ representatives on Saturday agreed to return to work within 48 hours, following a meeting which was also attended by representatives of other health workers such as nurses.
The meeting, held under the auspices of the Health Service Bipartite Negotiating Panel (HSBNP) also resolved to improve conditions of service including a duty free vehicle import scheme.
The parties also reaffirmed that there would be no victimisation of doctors who went on strike and agreed to create a Health Service Commission with the assistance of the Attorney General’s Office.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services yesterday saluted doctors for returning to work. “Government wishes to thank all the doctors that have gone back to work at Mpilo Central Hospital, United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH), Harare Central Hospital and Parirenyatwa,” said the Ministry in a statement.
Secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Mr Nick Mangwana, said: “Government has bent over backwards and more to accommodate the demands by the junior doctors, including the most extortionate of demands. We put the patients at the centre of all our negotiations as a compassionate and responsible Government. But the doctors were negotiating in bad faith from the word go. Agreements would be signed and hours later press statements would appear rescinding all that would have been agreed. Still the Government would make concessions.”
He said politics was now at play.
“The reason for all these concessions was for the doctors to go back to work and provide the patients with the care they so desperately deserved. We are now where we are because of not only avarice but heartless political interests which take people dying in hospitals as acceptable collateral damage,” said Mr Mangwana.
He said issues raised by the doctors, as evidenced by the terms of agreement signed, had little to do with patients care.
“It is disingenuous to now claim that they are walking away from the suffering patients because of care-based issues. At the heart of their grievance was never an issue of patient welfare. It was always about themselves — cars, housing, food, allowances and money and some other frivolous demands. Still Government accommodated them even though there was no doubt that there was a political objective to this charade.
“We always suspected that some of the demands were calculated to collapse the talks. The doctors always seemed surprised when compromises were made,” said Mr Mangwana.
He said it was clear someone other than the doctors was calling the shots.
“It was clear throughout the negotiations that someone else was calling the shots outside those who claimed to have been mandated to resolve the impasse. The negotiators kept on asking to be excused to go and consult on the phone. Someone else or some other force was micro-managing the process. Regardless, the interest of Government negotiators was to ensure that everything returns to normalcy in the affected hospitals,” added Mr Mangwana.
He thanked doctors who reported for duty yesterday, saying Government would fulfil what it had pledged as a matter of policy.
“We wish to thank those doctors who have remembered why they joined the profession in the first place and gone back to work. They did not do the Government a favour. They just responded to the original call that made them join the profession in the first place — to save lives,” said Mr Mangwana.
“Going forward, Government and its institutions will work with those that have the conscience to go back to the wards to save lives and alleviate suffering. We will also employ the measures we have already put in place to enfeeble the effect of this callous and inhuman disregard of the suffering of fellow human beings.
Healthcare is a human right. Good health delivery system is at the centre of this administration, hence the amounts that have been invested in healthcare inspite of our current challenges. Zimbabweans should not despair. Solutions are at hand as their Government takes their healthcare seriously,” said Mr Mangwana.
— @pamelashumba1.
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