By Patience Rashai

Government’s health services mouthpiece, the Health Services Board (HSB) is appealing to senior doctors to shelve the planned Thursday strike pledging that Government was in the process of reviewing their concerns.

Responding to the senior doctors’ call on the pending strike, whereby the doctors penned that they were not able to ‘continue reporting for duty, starting Thursday, due to the appalling and disgraceful conditions of service,’ HSB Chairperson Dr Paulinus Sikosana urged doctors to prioritise people’s lives.

“We are appealing to senior doctors to shelve the planned strike and prioritise human life. Most of these patients who usually fall victim have no recourse to private medical sector and Section 76 of the Constitution explicitly provides for the right to health for all citizens.

“At the same time government is still in the process of reviewing the raised concerns which we believe will be addressed though they still require more time.”

Dr Sikosana revealed that Government had made adjustments towards cushioning senior doctors from economic strain.

“Senior doctors are now allowed to go into private practice, even during working hours. They also have right of admission to bring their private patients to some of the Government hospital theatres, for instance, Parirenyatwa, and charge them,” he said.

Sikosana also highlighted that Government recently equipped some public hospitals as per the doctor’s demands.

“Government also re-equipped some public hospitals with assistance from the United Arab Emirates and Indian governments, a significant amount of equipment has been purchased,” he added.

The Health Services Board was established on June 1, 2005 through Statutory Instrument 88B of 2005 under the Health Services Act (Chapter 15:16 No. 28/2004) and is mandated together with the Minister of Health and Child Care to address the welfare and working conditions of medical personnel in government institutions.