New Zimbabwe regulation threatens well being staff with jail over strikes | Staff’ Rights Information

The regulation, signed final week, imposes punishments of as much as six months in jail for defiant staff or union leaders in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has introduced in a regulation banning well being staff resembling nurses and medical doctors from extended strikes, imposing punishments of as much as six months in jail for defiant staff or union leaders, state-run media and a authorities spokesman stated.

The availability, signed into regulation by President Emmerson Mnangagwa final week however made public on Wednesday, stipulates that well being staff can strike for as much as three days as a result of they’re thought-about an important service.

Well being professionals ought to proceed offering emergency providers throughout a strike, tweeted authorities spokesman Nick Mangwana.

Different nations, together with neighbouring South Africa and Zambia, restrict strikes by well being staff however impose much less extreme punishments, resembling dismissals, work suspensions or docking salaries.

Frequent and weeks-long strikes by well being staff have for years strained Zimbabwe’s public well being services, that are already in a poor situation because of dilapidated infrastructure and medication shortages.

Public well being staff argue that their salaries — about ZW 361,000 ($100) a month for a lot of — and lack of primary gear make their jobs untenable. Unemployment can also be excessive within the nation, with the Zimbabwe Congress of Commerce Unions (ZCTU), placing the speed at 90 %.

The Southern African nation, which as soon as boasted a few of the greatest public healthcare services and personnel within the area, is now battling a mind drain as nurses and medical doctors search higher alternatives elsewhere, primarily in the UK.