Presidential Spokesman, George Charamba | DEBATING IN PERSPECTIVE: The issue of striking & dismissed junior doctors and senior doctors awaiting disciplinary outcome needs debating in proper, factual perspective. So far, lots of heat and very little light on the matter whose importance and impact can hardly be overstated.
And precisely why facts, figures and sequence of developments have to be honoured for knowledgeable discussion, evaluation and possible solutions. First, the issues raised by doctors relate to:
~salaries;
~housing;
~transport/vehicles;
~Food.
For remuneration, doctors initially demanded payment in US Dollars, suggesting USD$5 000. They shifted to payment in local currency of Z$18 000; later they came down to Z$10 000, demanding that the figure follow and adjust to reigning interbank rates. Should that have been conceded, doctors would have been the most highly paid professionals in the Public Sector, earning well above Cabinet Ministers. Of course that would most certainly be followed by similar demands within and beyond the medical field, principally nursing and related staff in the medical sector, teachers and rest of civil servants in the rest of the Public Service.
This is key in debating the issue lest an incorrect impression is created that wage demands by doctors could be isolated and immunized from the rest of the Service. There is an inevitable domino effect sure to reverberate across the whole Public Service Sector, with obvious budgetary implications, principally the Staff Monitored Programme agreed to between government and the IMF in the context of broader macroeconomic Reforms for recovery.
Government responded by an initial counter-offer of 30% remuneration review. The doctors rejected it. Government came back with a revised counter-offer of 60%. Again that was rejected. Finally Government acceded to a 100% wage rise. That, too, was rejected.
On housing, Government responded by securing accommodation for Junior Doctors at Russell Hotel & at a block of Flats closer to the Catholic Cathedral, promising to look for more blocks of flats in order to accommodate Doctors. Apparently that made no impression on the doctors.
All that was in the immediate. In the medium to long term, Government undertook to put up more hostels and apartments to boost institutional accommodation already available to doctors. It should be noted that a good number of striking doctors are already accommodated in apartments within major hospitals, themselves doctors’ workplaces. This factor has a direct bearing on the whole argument to do with claims of “incapacitation”. On transport, Government agreed to source start-up vehicles for junior doctors, as well as buses dedicated to them.
The upshot is that the principle of transport facilitation as an aspect of composite conditions of service, was acceded to by Government. The issue of food was accepted by Government. I need to stress that the doctors did not want truncated concessions, pressing for a full package of all that they demanded. Alongside what Government acceded to, there was also a parallel initiative involving a private corporate player, and the Global Fund which Government engaged with a view to doubling retention allowances for doctors. Even the World Bank has
been engaged, alongside other donor players whose delivery portfolios are dependent on an fully functional national health delivery service. All these contacts have either already translated into concrete offers or are on the verge of becoming so, thus boosting what Government has already put on the table. To complete the demand and offer, mention should be made of equipment, medicines and accessories needed as stock-in-trade by doctors. Lots of these came into the country by way of out-Of-Budget purchases done at the instance of the President, by way of donations from friendly Governments, notably United Arab Emirates, and by way of direct Government purchases. In fact, the industrial action broke out when Government was in the middle of this major re-investment and retooling of the Health Sector.
Faced by growing obduracy by the junior doctors, and detecting both unprofessional influence from senior doctors and political instigation and interference from political parties and at least one foreign government and several organizations, Government turned to the Labour law as another level of tackling this problem which, anyway, was affecting an area regarded at law as an ESSENTIAL SERVICE. The courts were approached, which found against the doctors, thus making the industrial action ILLEGAL!!! At that stage, doctors renounced their institutional mechanism of negotiations, while changing their whole argument to one of INCAPACITATION. The notion of incapacitation must be tested by institutional accommodation arrangements available to striking doctors, and offers already made to them, all detailed above.
Still doctors would not relent, during which disposition the situation in hospitals continued to take a turn for the worse, and worst as lives continued to be lost, patients continuing to suffer. As required by law, after 14 days of judgment and non-compliance with court order,Government started disciplinary proceedings against doctors whose services had long been withdrawn. This is an important point worth keeping in mind in view of a false argument that disciplinary action by Government in terms of the law exacerbated the situation in hospitals and for patients. Simply, THINGS CAN’T GET WORSE FOR PATIENTS FROM DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST WORKERS WHO HAVE ALREADY WITHDRAWN THEIR SERVICES!!! Additionally, laws of the country apply to all, regardless of what skills one wields and how critical these may be to human life.
In fact this last fact makes enforcement of the law even more dire!! Also noteworthy is that Government continued to engage striking doctors even as disciplinary action was being pursued, interlarding this with plaintive appeals to doctors to go back to posts.
As I tweet, Government has granted a 48-hr moratorium during which striking doctors may rejoin the service without having to reapply or to answer questions about their past conduct. This concession followed an approach and appeal from Catholic Bishop’s Conference, led by Archbishop Ndlovu. The latest is that mediators from the Catholic Church who have met with doctors have reported that the striking doctors have asked for the moratorium in writing. Again Government, through HSB, has agreed to this request, with a written undertaking likely to be delivered to striking doctors either this evening or tomorrow morning at the latest. I made reference to foreign meddling through a foreign embassy & some foreign sponsored organizations, both already known to Government. I should also indicate monies – USD-denominated – allowances given to sections of the striking doctors through a well-known so-called human rights lawyer, to stiffen the back of striking doctors. The payments to the few who have received them amount to a princely sum of USD$5 000/person!!
The projection is for an escalation in the health sector, and a snowballing of the industrial action across sectors in the Service to trigger generalized instability. To date, 448 doctors have been dismissed, with 57 senior doctors allegedly associated with the strike at various stages of disciplinary hearings. To appreciate and support church-related health institutions which have been saving the situation, Government has now decided to incorporate all Church-run District Hospitals into its overall health budget. This support will cover…
Government started disciplinary proceedings against doctors whose services had long been withdrawn. This is an important point worth keeping in mind in view of a false argument that disciplinary action by Government in terms of the law exacerbated the situation in hospitals and equipment, medicines, accessories and utilities such as water and electricity bills which have been weighing down these institutions. Tellingly, Church-run Hospitals like Silveira in Bikita, Msiso in Zaka, Mt St Mary’s in Hwedza, have been playing role of District Hospitals, as no such facilities exist in those Districts. The decision by Government to recognize these strictly on basis of service, as opposed to ownership, is a major policy milestone which the Catholic Church secured after yesterday’s meeting with the Presidency.