Striking doctors and nurses are set to resume work after the Zimbabwean government agreed to address some of their concerns.
The Herald reports that a meeting, by representatives from government, the Health Services Bipartite Negotiating33 Panel (HSBNP) and the workers, was convened by government after the health personnel went on strike two weeks ago, disrupting service delivery at public health institutions.
Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Gerald Gwinji said the meeting was concluded amicably and a number of positions have been reached around issues of the on-call allowances, which will be adjusted together with the night duty allowances," he said.
The report says according to the agreement signed by the government, the HSBNP and workers, the on-call allowances would be increased from $288 per month to $360. "The HSNBP agreed that the base figure for the on-call allowance be reviewed from the current $288 per month to $360 per month with effect from 1 April 2017," the
agreement said. "The other rates will be reviewed proportionally. The meeting also noted that when the fiscal space becomes available the allowance will be reviewed."
The meeting also agreed to increase night duty allowance from $50 to $65 on a sliding scale up to $91 effective 1 April. "The panel noted that Duty Free Scheme shall be replaced with an Employer Assisted Car Loan Scheme. The bipartite should convene at the earliest opportunity to design an implementation framework for consideration and adoption by government before 30 May 2017."
The parties agreed that the re-grading of personnel will be recommenced from 1 April. They also agreed on the creation of the 250 posts for doctors and 2,000 posts for nurses and agreed to review rentals at government-owned properties, taking into account affordability.
The parties acknowledged that the manner in which the health personnel embarked on their industrial action was illegal, but agreed that the workers' leadership would not face any disciplinary action.
Hospital Doctors' Association of Zimbabwe president Dr Edgar Munatsi is quoted in the report as saying they were consulting their membership on a way forward. The Zimbabwe Nurses Association was unavailable for comment.
[link url="http://allafrica.com/stories/201703070105.html"]The Herald[/link]