THE striking nurses, who were struck off the July payroll,
have vowed not to return to work until the new Health minister Vice-President
Constantino Chiwenga has addressed their demands.
Zimbabwe Nurses Association (Zina) president Enock Dongo
confirmed the position yesterday.
Dongo said being struck off the payroll had not rattled the
majority of health workers who are demanding personal protective equipment
(PPE) and salaries in United States dollars from their employer, before they
could resume their duties.
“We are still on strike and we are on day 52. The majority
of public hospitals are literally closed and patients are being referred to
private health centres. Some patients are actually dying because they do not
afford to pay the forex charges at the private hospitals, but as nurses we
cannot call off the strike at this stage,” he said.
“Government has not done anything to meet our demands which
are US dollar-pegged salaries or provision of adequate personal protective
equipment. Actually the skeletal staff of nurses which is attending to
emergency cases at the hospitals does not have adequate PPE.
“So if we wake up tomorrow and call off the strike, it will
be a disaster in public hospitals with the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases among
nurses. Government must just meet our demands, then we can call off the
strike.”
He said all nurses on strike were removed from the
government payroll last month.
“It’s true that all of us on strike have been struck off
the government payroll. However, we are not going to give in to such
intimidatory tactics and go back to work. What we are supposed to do at
hospitals in fulfilment of our duties does not tally with what we will get at
the end of the month in form of salary, so we better stay home until government
comes to the negotiating table to iron out our grievances,” Dongo said.
At the beginning of the strike, government refused to pay
the nurses in forex as per their demands, setting the stage for the impasse.
Chiwenga is yet to give direction on the way forward
regarding the strike since his shock appointment last week. Newsday
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