Doctors vow to go on strike

A countrywide strike of medical doctors is now looming after doctors vowed to lay down tools unless the government meets their demands.The demands include reinstating a total of 195 intern doctors of the Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in Dar es Salaam.

The Medical Association of Tanzania (Mat) is, however, sharply divided as to who between it and the Tanzania Union of Government and Health Employees (Tughe) is mandated to sanction the strike.

The division was manifested when Mat met at the weekend to work out strategies to press for the reinstatement of their colleagues after a number of doctors resolved to go on strike from next Monday.The Mat vice president, Mr Primus Saidia, declared categorically that it would not endorse such a move, which can only legally be authorised by Tughe.

For nearly three weeks now, the doctors have been at loggerheads with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare after MNH authorities terminated the services of 229 medical interns.These have been on strike to press for payment of Sh176 million in allowance arrears. However, the government later re-allocated them to other duty stations.

“I cannot stop them from going on strike, but let it be known that only Tughe has legal powers to do that as opposed to Mat which is an association of professionals,” Mr Saidia told The Citizen on Sunday.However, he said it was too early to throw in the towel, and that they would hold another meeting tomorrow to push their demands further.

Some interns and several medical specialists from various hospitals in the city separately expressed disappointment on Friday over the government’s laxity to resolve the crisis.The doctors’ attempt to meet Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda to discuss the issue yielded no fruits.A delegation from Mat went to the Premier’s office on Friday, only to be told that they could not meet him as he was about to travel to Arusha.

But later in the day, the deputy minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Lucy Nkya, called the delegation to her office and warned them over any attempt to take strike action.Well placed sources from the delegation said they were puzzled by the reply from Dr Nkya, and were compelled to take strike action as a way of protesting.

“She told us ‘you should not dare strike as you are still bound to the oath you took on your confirmation to the profession’”, the source quoted her as saying.

However, the source, who sought for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said they would show that they were determined to stage a strike as they were fed up with being taken for a ride.It is understood that Dr Nkya had already publicly stated that the government would not recall the interns to the MNH.

“She has failed to decide on the fate of our colleagues. She had even misinformed the public that we have not consulted her over reinstatement of our colleagues,” claimed the source.Last Tuesday the government re-located 195 medical interns to various public and private hospitals in Dar es Salaam and denied claims it had laid them off.

The Citizen on Sunday has learnt that some of the interns who were dispatched to Temeke, Mwananyamala and Amana municipal hospitals, Lugalo and Aga Khan were yet to be accepted by the hospitals.

A spot check conducted by this paper yesterday established a severe shortage of health officers at the MNH.

One of the affected interns at MNH, Dr Alphonce Simbila, told this paper that the hospital was now witnessing longer queues of patients than before.

“It is taking long to serve the patients because we are not around; normally the interns would brief MDs on the status of patients awaiting treatment, but that task is now done by the doctors themselves,” said Dr Simbila.

This newspaper witnessed a few remaining interns attending to patients in both wards of Mwaisela and Kibasila.

“As you can see, one intern serves over 50 patients,” said Dr Simbila.