Zimbabwe: Striking doctors condemn government sackings

ANKARA (AA) - Striking Zimbabwean physicians condemned a recent government move to sack 77 doctors, while millions of citizens have no access to state medical facilities, local media reported Wednesday.

In a statement, the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) said the country's Health Service Board, which is in charge of appointing doctors, has "succeeded in shooting themselves on the foot" with the purge.

"Whilst the Zimbabwean citizens and the government of Zimbabwe have entrusted them with a simple mandate of resolving the crisis in our healthcare system, they have shaken the nation by firing the very few doctors in the country," VOA Zimbabwe news site quoted the ZHDA statement.

"We eagerly await to see how this move which defies all common sense will serve as a solution to the already strained health care system. Nothing has been done to improve the welfare of doctors and hospitals’ working environments therefore doctors nationwide remain incapacitated," it read.

Doctors in Zimbabwe have been on strike since Sept. 3 in protest of working conditions and low salaries, as they earn approximately $200 per month, the lowest in the region.

The statement comes while Zimbabwean civil servants are also on strike in protest against low wages amid high living costs, with inflation in the Southern African country reaching triple digits.