Health Sector At Stake As Nurses Chide Mthuli Measures

Nurses have promised to go on strike in two weeks’ time if the government fails to pay them in US dollars and improve working conditions.

The development comes after nurses rejected the government’s offer of a 100 per cent pay rise effective July 2022, which was announced by Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube on Monday

Ncube announced that health workers’ salaries and allowances would be reviewed upwards, but he did not give figures.

However, Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA) leader, Enock Dongo said Ncube’s announcement doesn’t change anything.

“These allowances are not new; the complaint was these allowances were insignificant to us.

“As it stands, nothing has changed because we do not know how much was added, we do not know if it was reviewed in US dollars or if it is RTGS.

“We are still in the dark, so our position still stands. If they do not call for a meeting and update us on currency figures within the remaining days, we will go on industrial strike again on day 14 as promised.

“We are still incapacitated, and we are currently mobilising our people for the strike,” he said.

Public health workers were on strike from Monday to Friday last week citing incapacitation.

They then suspended the strike saying they were worried about a spike in avoidable deaths at health institutions.

The health workers’ apex council, however, gave the government 14 days to address their concerns, a failure of which they will not report for duty.

A Journalist, writer and photographer

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