Own Correspondent|Fired doctors wishing to get their jobs back must reapply, the Government has said.
To date, 435 doctors have been fired for illegally withdrawing their labour, with 43 more yet to appear before disciplinary tribunals.
The reapplications are in line with the law and allow the Government to revisit the doctors’ contracts, but it is not granted that everyone will be reinstated.
The reapplication process does not affect parallel negotiations between the Government, junior and senior doctors.
Five hundred and twenty-three doctors were served with charge letters following the strike which had gone past 77 days, as they continue to press for US dollar pegged salaries.
Most of them failed to attend disciplinary hearings, resulting in them being sacked in absentia.
Speaking during a Cabinet briefing in Harare yesterday, Acting Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu said: “Turning to hospital doctors, a total of 480 disciplinary cases have so far been heard. An additional 149 doctors were found guilty and discharged, bringing the cumulative total of the doctors discharged to 435.
“Cabinet was informed of a meeting which was held on 15th November, 2019 between the Minister of Health and Child Care and representatives from the Senior and Junior Doctors Association. While positive strides were made at the meeting, with some doctors showing a willingness to return to work, Cabinet has resolved that those doctors already discharged have to apply for readmission. Government will not rescind its position on the fired doctors.”
Junior doctors withdrew their labour on September 3 citing incapacitation. Since then, junior, senior and some consultant doctors refused to return to work, defying even a Labour Court ruling, which declared their mass job action illegal.
This prompted the Health Services Board to institute disciplinary tribunals against all the defiant doctors. The doctors remained defiant as they failed to turn up for the tribunals, resulting in the dismissal judgment being passed in absentia.
Source: State Media