MDC-T condemns government action on striking nurses

The Movement for Democratic Change has condemned the way the government handled the issue of striking nurses and says it must re-engage them.

The government on Tuesday fired 16 000 nurses that went on strike on Monday and said it would employment qualified unemployed nurses and those that had retired.

It said the strike was politically motivated.

The MDC-T said the heavy handedness of the government was a cause for concern because it was ignoring nurses’ grievances by instead preferring to believe they are politically motivated.

Below is a full statement issued by MDC-T Shadow Minister for Health Henry Madzorera.

Thursday, 19 April 2018

Zanu PF government offside on nurses strike

It is extremely sad to note that our current government does not see anything wrong with the current conditions of service of the nurses in the public health sector, preferring instead to believe that their grievances and their latest industrial action are politically motivated. The heavy handedness of the government in the current strike is further cause for alarm.

The nation has witnessed unprecedented suffering of the sick and their loved ones since  March 1, when the doctors’ strike started. Hundreds of our sick friends and relatives have died unnecessarily of potentially curable illnesses.

Thousands more have been denied the most basic of health care, and have had to endure untold suffering. All this does not seem to have moved the hearts of those running the country. Now the government has purportedly fired the nurses who are simply calling for intensified dialogue with their employer, concerning their deplorable conditions of service. The loser in this equation are the poor people of Zimbabwe, the villagers, the unemployed, the homeless, the overcrowded, and those with no proper water supply and sanitation facilities. In other words, the people the government is supposed to watch over jealously.

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