Medical strike ‘a state security threat’

Doctors have effectively stopped attending to emergency cases in Zimbabwe. After a meeting between hospital medical officers, junior registrars and specialists on Thursday, 2019, the doctors released a statement saying that ‘with a heavy heart’ they have refused to operate. ‘We have been diligently attending to emergencies hoping that the current impasse would be resolved,’ the statement noted. A TimesLIVE report notes that it was penned at the United Bulawayo Hospital, the second largest referral hospital in the country. President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week suspended his annual leave to engage with the doctors. Presidential spokesperson George Charamba told journalists that the strike had become a state security threat that demanded extraordinary solutions.