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| Maternal ward number 39, Muhimbili National Hospital |
MEDICAL doctors in public hospitals
have decided to down tools starting on Monday to pressure the government
to address longstanding issues facing the medical fraternity,
particularly poor working conditions.
The doctors made the resolution on
Monday in Dar es Salaam after a day-long meeting held at the Don Bosco
Youth Centre and attended by some 200 health practitioners.
"We are
announcing a strike for all medical doctors. We are suspending all
services to patients to press for our rights; we will stop the
industrial action once the government solves our problems," said Dr
Ulimboka Stephen, who chaired the meeting.
But the government had repeatedly said
it was ready for dialogue with the doctors and cautioned them against
any professional misconduct, including staging a strike. The medical
practitioners have been holding meetings since Wednesday last week under
the Medical Association of Tanzania (MAT).
The doctors were to meet with the Deputy
Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Lucy Nkya, on Thursday last
week but the meeting flopped in the eleventh hour, as each party
insisted on holding the meeting on a venue it had arranged.
In a move
that appeared to distance the professional body from the industrial
action, yesterday afternoon the medical practitioners resolved to close
the MAT meeting and resolved to hold a different meeting which
eventually came up with the decision of a strike.
The meeting had four agenda on the table
namely; poor working conditions facing the medical fraternity and poor
services rendered to patients due to unfriendly facilities in most
public hospitals countrywide.
Others were reinstatement of 194 intern
doctors at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) who were transferred to
other hospitals in the city and action against officials at the
Ministry of Health and Social Welfare whom the doctors claimed had been
issuing demeaning statements to the health practitioners.
"The meeting resolved after a heated
debate that all the 194 intern doctors that had recently been
transferred from MNH should be reinstated unconditionally. They also
want a risk allowance of 30 per cent of their salaries. This is due to
risks they are exposed to when performing their duties," Dr Ulimboka
said:
"The government's Standing
Orders of 1994 stipulate among other things that medical doctors should
be provided with accommodation or housing allowance of 30 per cent of
their salaries. The situation on the ground is however, different."
According to Dr Ulimboka, the doctors are also pressing the government to provide health insurance to all health workers through the 'green card' cover of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
"We also want our salaries to be
increased to match the rising cost of living. On call allowances (paid
to doctors on night shifts) should be increased from 10,000/- to half
per diem of a respective region, according to the Standing Orders," he
said.
The health workers are also asking the government to provide them with loans to acquire motor vehicles or transport allowance of 30 per cent of their salaries.
The genesis of the standoff between the
Ministry of Health and Social Welfare ensued when the ministry
transferred 194 medical interns at MNH after they downed tools
demanding two-month allowance arrears.
Source: Daily News www.dailynews.co.tz, reported by Alvar Mwakyusa
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