News / National
Time Government and Doctors reach a consensus
26 Mar 2018 at 11:47hrs | Views
The impasse between the Ministry of Health and Child Care and the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association has dragged on for almost a month now, and one can only imagine the horrors that patients are confronting during this deadlock.
Before the strike even started, visits around the local hospitals confirmed that the country's health sector needed a revamp. Not only towards the welfare of doctors, but in also making sure that the hospitals themselves are well equipped with drugs and supplies needed to efficiently run the hospitals.
Recently, scores of women who had gone to undergo cervical cancer screening at Chitungwiza General Hospital were turned away as there were no doctors to perform the procedure since they were on strike. On a daily basis, patients are being turned away without being treated, their fate unknown.
As much as it is the duty of the doctors to attend to patients even under the worst of conditions, the Ministry of Health should also give an ear to the concerns of the personnel that makes the Ministry be viable, as a healthy and happy workforce is bound to deliver positive results. It is the role of the 'parent' Ministry to make sure that common ground is forged soonest so that no more lives are lost.
Both the Ministry and the doctors owe it to citizens for reliable service provision as they simultaneously work to serve these same patients they are turning away untreated. By denying to effect provisions that contribute towards a better livelihood for the doctors, the Ministry is doing a disservice to its constituency because they are the end users of the doctor's service.
In the same manner, doctors are not achieving anything by withholding the services from the patients, yet they made an oath to treat patients' even in dire circumstances. With the impasse, it is the patients who suffer the most, not the Ministry responsible. Doctors should also take into consideration that the economy is slowly getting back on track and their demands might not be met at this juncture.
Before the strike even started, visits around the local hospitals confirmed that the country's health sector needed a revamp. Not only towards the welfare of doctors, but in also making sure that the hospitals themselves are well equipped with drugs and supplies needed to efficiently run the hospitals.
Recently, scores of women who had gone to undergo cervical cancer screening at Chitungwiza General Hospital were turned away as there were no doctors to perform the procedure since they were on strike. On a daily basis, patients are being turned away without being treated, their fate unknown.
As much as it is the duty of the doctors to attend to patients even under the worst of conditions, the Ministry of Health should also give an ear to the concerns of the personnel that makes the Ministry be viable, as a healthy and happy workforce is bound to deliver positive results. It is the role of the 'parent' Ministry to make sure that common ground is forged soonest so that no more lives are lost.
Both the Ministry and the doctors owe it to citizens for reliable service provision as they simultaneously work to serve these same patients they are turning away untreated. By denying to effect provisions that contribute towards a better livelihood for the doctors, the Ministry is doing a disservice to its constituency because they are the end users of the doctor's service.
In the same manner, doctors are not achieving anything by withholding the services from the patients, yet they made an oath to treat patients' even in dire circumstances. With the impasse, it is the patients who suffer the most, not the Ministry responsible. Doctors should also take into consideration that the economy is slowly getting back on track and their demands might not be met at this juncture.
Source - Anesu Pedzisayi
