Zimbabwe: Doctors' strike adds to country's pain

BULAWAYO, 26 August 2008 (IRIN) - Nurses at the main referral hospital in southern Zimbabwe advise his mother, Jestina Moyo, 59, that she should take her son to a private hospital, but she protests that she cannot afford the high consultation fees charged by private doctors. The nurses then suggest that she buy pain killers for him.

Mehluli, 35, is just one of thousands of Zimbabweans bearing the brunt of a strike by government doctors, who downed tools last week to protest against salaries that are quickly eroded by the official annual inflation rate of 11.2 million percent.

"This is painful to watch my son waste away like this. The hospital says the doctors are on strike, demanding high salaries, and there is nothing I can do for my son, as I have no money to take him to a private doctor," Jestina said, wiping the perspiration from her son's face with a towel.

"So I just have to take him back home and buy painkillers as the nurses have advised - I do not know what he is suffering from this time, and we needed a doctor to diagnose what the problem is this time," she told IRIN.

"All this is a reflection of the political system we have in the country; everyone is on strike at any given time, and things will not improve unless and until there is new leadership that will address the doctors' concerns and those of other professionals in the country," Jestina said. "As it is, my son will die a painful death unless I find money to take him to a private doctor."

State hospitals provide health services to the majority of Zimbabweans but the country's economic meltdown has brought shortages of most things, including basic foods, fuel and electricity.

The situation in the health sector has been compounded by acute staff shortages of medical personnel, drugs and equipment; government hospitals were barely functioning before the strike started.

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