Doctors on strike in Zimbabwe for pay increase defied a government order to resume work yesterday and asked the UN and private businesses to help fund their return to the wards.
The doctors are in the second month of a strike over salaries which have dwindled to less than one hundred dollars per month in some cases as a result of galloping inflation.
In a statement, the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association said they have used up their savings by “subsidising the employer” for them to just report for work.
Negotiations with the government have been deadlocked as the doctors rejected a 60 percent pay increase and demanded their salaries be pegged to the US dollar.
Health Minister Obadiah Moyo at the weekend ordered the medics to return to work, warning them of unspecified disciplinary action if they do not comply.
