Eighty junior doctors were back at work by yesterday, while
another 282 are expected to have joined them by the beginning of next month.
Part of the incentives to get junior doctors back to work
include an offer by Higher Life Foundation (HLF) to provide medical
scholarships of $5 000 a month from the beginning of next year, and yesterday
the foundation said 362 of the 365 who applied had been awarded the
scholarships. Any of the remaining 282 not yet back at work who join the 80
promptly will receive the scholarship for December as well.
The Health Services Board (HSB) confirmed that 80 doctors
had applied and signed resumption of duty forms by midday yesterday.
All central hospitals, including Sally Mugabe Hospital,
formerly Harare Central Hospital, which had been incorrectly reported over the
weekend by social media as closed, are operational although most continue to
operate below capacity.
The exception is Chitungwiza Central Hospital which now has
19 of its dismissed 20 doctors back on duty and is operating normally.
Patients seeking services at the two hospitals were not
waiting for long yesterday before being attended to. At Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals only non-critical cases
had to wait longer.
Chitungwiza Central Hospital chief executive officer Dr
Enock Mayida yesterday said 19 of the 20 doctors who had been fired were
reporting for work, joining 17 consultant doctors who provide specialist
services to the hospital and who never withdrew their labour. The hospital has
about 60 junior and senior doctors.
Harare Central Hospital chief executive officer Dr Tinashe
Dobbie dismissed rumours that his hospital had been closed.
Patients who routinely receive treatment at the hospital
said they were still receiving medical attention from available health
personnel, which includes an understrength complement of doctors.
A visit to some of the hospital’s critical stations namely
casualty, outpatients, intensive care unit (ICU), male and female wards, renal,
neonatal, and maternity unit showed that while the number of patients receiving
treatment was much lower, the institution never closed its doors to the public.
But some wards were combined at the beginning of the strike
to match the limited number of doctors reporting for duty.
A patient interviewed in the B8 male ward, Mr Tonderai
Chingani, said he was admitted last Thursday and has been receiving treatment
since then.
“When I came here I could not even talk, my blood pressure
was very high and I was in a bad shape. But I have now fully recovered
following the assistance I have been receiving from nurses and doctors from
this ward,” he said. Herald
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