Parirenyatwa doctors return to work

JUNIOR doctors at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals who have been "AWOL" in a bid to press government to improve their housing system have returned to work.

The doctors downed tools on Thursday in a bid to press the government to review its decision to scrap the $300 housing allowances they were getting to force them to stay in government accommodation.

The doctors yesterday resolved to go back to work while they await communication from their lawyers whom they have engaged.

But Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals chief executive officer Thomas Zigora yesterday said no doctor was being forced to take up institutional accommodation saying the housing allowance had only been scrapped from those who reside at the hospital houses.

 "It was agreed then, and rightly so, that since government had an obligation to provide accommodation for the junior doctors, they should similarly reimburse them for the rentals they would need to pay in private accommodation," he said. "It was at this point that the residence allowance was introduced and pegged at $250 per month."

"This residence allowance has, since inception several years ago, only been paid to those interns who are not resident on site at the hospital. This position remains now, exactly as it was at inception and there has, therefore, been no change whatsoever."

Hospital authorities had referred the doctors to the Ministry of Health and Child Care after failing to resolve the issue which caused the doctors to engage in a job action.

President of the Hospital Doctors' Association of Zimbabwe Arthur Mhizha said they had met with the acting permanent secretary and nothing concrete had come out of that meeting.