The industrial action by Nurses, continued, Monday, with the health workers staging a massive demonstration at Mpilo Central Hospital as they continued to press the government for better working conditions.
The nurses from Mpilo Hospital, Engutsheni and United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) picketed at the referral hospital demanding that the government review their salaries.
They want to be paid in United States Dollars, and be provided with adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect themselves from Covid-19.
Fourteen nurses from Mpilo Hospital have tested positive for Covid-19 and some are currently in isolation at Elangeni training centre.
The placard waving nurses, marched around the hospital and vowed not to return to work until their grievances are met.
Speaking to CITE on the sidelines of the demonstration, Zimbabwe Nurses Association (Zina) provincial chair Nicholas Chidowore said they were still waiting to hear from the government.
“We are still waiting for the government to come to us and offer a negotiation but nothing has happened so far so we will wait,” he said.
Chidowore said their protest was emboldened by the arrest of some of their colleagues at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare, as they prepared to stage a similar demonstration.
“The demonstration came about in solidarity of what happened at Parirenyatwa where fellow nurses evicted from their residency…. it’s unfair to us,” he said.
“Remember the industrial action by junior doctors which lasted about five months, but we never heard anyone being evicted from the residency. It’s a system once you try to demand they act severely; I don’t know why maybe they want to keep us in slavery without a living wage.”
