'We can't afford to get to work'
The doctors do not call it a strike - rather an "incapacitation", saying they cannot afford to go to work. They are demanding salary increases to cope with triple-digit inflation amid Zimbabwe's collapsing economy. Most of the striking doctors take home less $100 (£77) a month, not nearly enough to buy food and groceries - or get to work. Not long after the strike began their union leader, Dr Peter Magombeyi, was abducted for five days in mysterious circumstances - one of a number of abductions this year of those seen as critical of the government. The authorities deny any involvement in these cases, but those taken are usually released after being beaten up and threatened. Since then 448 doctors have been fired for striking and for violating a labour court ruling that ordered them back to work. Another 150 face still face disciplinary hearings. Ten days ago, a journalist tweeted footage showing the deserted wards of Parirenyatwa Hospital, describing the scene as "empty and ghostly". Senior doctors, who had been filling in for the junior colleagues by providing emergency services, have now also downed their stethoscopes and scalpels. They are demanding that the government reinstate the fired doctors and meet their wage demands. The strikes have crippled the health system, and nurses at municipal clinics are also not reporting for work as they are pressing for a living wage. One nurse told me her transport costs alone gobble up half her salary.'Death traps'
It has worsened the conditions in a health sector that was already collapsing. Senior doctors describe the public hospitals as "death traps". More about Zimbabwe's economic collapse:- The land where cash barons thrive
- Zimbabwe descends into darkness
- Is Zimbabwe worse off now than under Mugabe?
Billionaire's lifeline
No-one knows how this will end. UK-based Zimbabwean telecoms billionaire Strive Masiyiwa has offered to set up a 100m Zimbabwean dollar ($6.25m; £4.8m) fundto try to break the impasse. It would, among other things, pay up to 2,000 doctors a little more than US$300 a month and provide them with transport to work for a period of six months. There has been no reaction yet from the doctors. Zimbabwe crisis in numbers:- Inflation around 500%
- 60% of the population of 14 million food-insecure (meaning not enough food for basic needs)
- 90% of children aged six months to two years not consuming a minimum acceptable diet
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