THE crisis at Harare’s major public hospitals deepened on Friday when consultants resolved to stop attending to new cases until striking middle-level and junior doctors return to work.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
Consultants had been holding fort since junior doctors downed tools on March 1 demanding a review of their allowances and improvements to their working conditions.
Middle-level doctors joined the strike a fortnight ago as the government dragged its feet in resolving the impasse.
consultants at Parirenyatwa Hospital and Harare Central Hospital then threw in the towel after a meeting on Friday, where they agreed that they had been overstretched without the services of the junior doctors.
“The consultants met today (March 29) and have noted that in the absence of junior and middle-level doctors, we are unable to deliver safe and adequate service,” said one Dr Chimuka, a representative of the consultants, in a letter addressed to the Parirenyatwa Hospital and Harare Central Hospital clinical directors respectively.
“In this regard we have resolved that we are unable to see and manage any new patients coming into our tertiary hospitals.”
Muchabayiwa Gidiri, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, in a similarly dated letter, said they had resolved to stop attending to patients at Parirenyatwa’s Mbuya Nehanda maternity unit.
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“The department of obstetrics and gynaecology has borne the brunt of the strike because of the nature of our work,” he said.
“If you want us to come to your office and explain the serious challenges we have encountered as individuals running a labour ward at a tertiary institution as a one-man team, we will be happy to do so.
“This has gone on for far too long and as consultants we have reached breaking point and will no longer be available to cover emergencies after this Friday without the essential relevant junior staff.”
Nurses who spoke on condition of anonymity said most senior doctors had retreated to private practice.
The government was accused of reneging on agreements reached with doctors following similar job boycotts in the past four years, which included allowing the medical experts to buy duty-free cars.
Several attempts have been made by the Health Services Board to appease the doctors but to no avail.
