Zimpapers Logo

Diana Nherera and Dorcas Jiri
Scores of people have been thronging the Red Crescent Society clinic in Harare’s Central Business District seeking medical attention following the strike by doctors at major Government hospitals.

The clinics’ managing director Dr Amin Hamidzadeh said there has been an increase in patient turnout during the past two weeks.

“We used to have approximately 450 transactions before the strike, but we are now handling almost 1 000 transactions per day and one patient can access two or more of our facilities,” said Dr Hamidzadeh.

He said due to the influx of patients they had increased the sitting area on the ground floor of the building.

Some of the patients who spoke to The Herald said they failed to receive medical attention at Government hospitals, hence they opted for the Red Cross clinic.

“We went to Parirenyatwa Hospital, but there was no one to attend to us,” said Ms Caroline Ngorima.

“Those few doctors on duty said they were only dealing with emergency cases, so we decided to come here.”

Other patients called upon Government to intervene in the doctors’ strike to avoid unnecessary loss of lives.

The plight of patients has been further worsened by the doctors’ strike, with the major hospitals yet to receive help from the uniformed forces as envisaged.

Parirenyatwa Hospitals’ casualty department was yesterday packed with patients who were not getting medical attention.

The situation was the same at Harare Central Hospital.

Junior doctors went on strike last Monday and were joined by their seniors on Wednesday this week.

The junior doctors are demanding a salary review from $282 to $1 200 per month, a housing allowance of $350 per month from $250 and a facility where they can purchase cars duty free.

The Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association said the Health Services Board had offered the striking doctors new on-call allowances of $10 per hour from 35 cents and a newly introduced risk allowance for diseases such as Ebola, tuberculosis and HIV and Aids, but they await a written commitment.

Health Services Board public relations executive Mr Nyasha Maravanyika said doctors would only get a written commitment after the budget presentation expected later this month.