[afro-nets] Doctors in Tanzania on strike

[Ally Hussein <ruhettah@yahoo.com>]

Doctors in Tanzania on strike
-----------------------------
Sacked doctors in about-turn

2005-11-26 09:05:19

By Judica Tarimo

The Medical Association of Tanzania (MAT) last night accepted
the salary raise offered by the government and asked that all
sacked Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) doctors be reinstated
unconditionally.

MAT president Prof Joseph Kahamba said at the end of an extraor-
dinary general meeting in Dar es Salaam that the body had re-
solved to accept the new starting salary of 403,625/-, pending
further negotiations with the government.

The association also asked the government to reverse its deci-
sion to revoke the sponsorship of intern doctors involved in a
crippling strike at MNH earlier this week and their subsequent
ejection from student quarters.

Prof Kahamba said a special committee had been formed to follow
up the matter with the Ministry of Health.

MAT would hold another meeting next week to evaluate progress
that would have been made, he added.

The association convened the extraordinary congress after the
government sacked all doctors who had refused to return to work
after rejecting the pay raise.

About 180 doctors are thought to have lost their jobs and the
government quickly moved to replace them with experts from the
Tanzania People?s Defence Forces (TPDF) and Ministry of Health.

The doctors will be supplemented with 40 interns who were on the
waiting list who will be assigned duties on Monday.

The MNH doctors went on strike last weekend, demanding that the
starting salary be raised to 1.2m/- from 226,000/-.

But the government offered them a 77.7 per cent increase, which
was rejected by the vast majority of the striking doctors.

The strike also involved nurses, pharmacists and auxiliary staff
at MNH and KCMC Hospital in Moshi.

Earlier in the day, heavily armed police stormed the MNH hostels
yesterday to evict sacked junior doctors and the interns who
were still at the hospital, reports Joyce Mkinga.

According to the Director of Clinical Services, Prof Andrew
Swai, the interns had been ordered to vacate the hospital?s
premises by 5pm on Thursday.

?The interns and registrars were ordered to collect their let-
ters of dismissal before 5pm. They are not supposed to be on
these premises, otherwise legal action would be taken against
them,? he said in an announcement bearing his signature that was
pinned on the notice board.

The administration also alleged that the presence of the dis-
missed interns was criminal as it could interfere with perform-
ance of their colleagues who had opted to return to work.

The police went to the hospital early in the morning, but did
not find the interns, who had reportedly gone to attend a meet-
ing of the Tanzania Medical Association at the Korean Culture
Centre.

An on-spot check at the hostels found that none of the interns
was around and their hostels were locked.

One of the hostel janitors told The Guardian that the interns
return to the hostels at night and leave the premises very early
in the morning.

?Yes the police came here, but found that they had already
left,? he said.

The police invasion of the interns? hostels comes three days af-
ter the government dismissed 176 doctors, pharmacists and nurses
who had vowed to go on with the strike.

Meanwhile, the hospital received 56 doctors yesterday, out of
whom 10 were from the National Medical Research Institute, 30
from the Ministry of Health and 16 from Tanzania People?s De-
fence Forces (TPDF).

MNH Public Relations Officer Jezza Waziri said that more than 40
new interns who have been on the waiting list are expected to
report to the hospital on Monday.

The doctors from TPDF started providing services at the hospital
early yesterday morning.

Team leader, Brig Gen Yadon Kohi, told reporters that TPDF was
asked for 40 doctors as part of the contingency measures to
overcome the shortage of manpower.

By yesterday morning 16 of the doctors had reported to the hos-
pital. Two of them come from Zanzibar.

Brig-Gen Kohi, who is also the director-general of the Commis-
sion of Science and Technology (Costec), said the doctors come
from all over the country.

He said the team has been deployed at the hospital in accordance
with the TPDF regulations that provide for the army to intervene
whenever there was a crisis.

Brig-Gen Kohi said that doctors from TPDF have been sent to four
departments that had an acute shortage of manpower.

These were surgery, medical, gynaecology and eye, nose and
throat (ENT) clinics.

?We have started with these departments, the rest will be allo-
cated doctors as they arrive,? he said.

Some retired doctors also reported to the hospital yesterday.
They include (year of retirement in brackets) Dr Hudson Mpangala
(1994), Dr Hassan Simbaulanga (1996) and Dr Abdallah Barnabas.

Dr Mpangala who is now working with the TMJ Hospital in Dar es
Salaam told The Guardian that they were ready to work in the in-
terest of the nation.

According to the Director of Clinical Services, Prof Andrew
Swai, the interns had been ordered to vacate the hospital?s
premises by 5pm on Thursday.

?The interns and registrars were ordered to collect their let-
ters of dismissal before 50pm. They are not supposed to be on
these premises, otherwise legal action would be taken against
them,? he said in an announcement bearing his signature that was
pinned on the notice board.

The administration also alleged that the presence of the dis-
missed interns was criminal as it could interfere with perform-
ance of their colleagues who had opted to return to work.

The police went to the hospital early in the morning, but did
not find the interns, who had reportedly gone to attend a meet-
ing of the Tanzania Medical Association at the Korean Culture
Centre.

An on-spot check at the hostels found that none of the interns
was around and their hostels were locked.

One of the hostel janitors told The Guardian that the interns
return to the hostels at night and leave the premises very early
in the morning.

?Yes the police came here, but found that they had already
left,? he said.

The police invasion of the interns? hostels comes three days af-
ter the government dismissed 176 doctors, pharmacists and nurses
who had vowed to go on with the strike.

Meanwhile, the hospital received 56 doctors yesterday, out of
whom 10 were from the National Medical Research Institute, 30
from the Ministry of Health and 16 from Tanzania People?s De-
fence Forces (TPDF).

? SOURCE: GUARDIAN

--
Ally Hussein(BA edu, hons)
Library and Documentation Manager
Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre
P.o.Box 53
Ifakara, Morogoro
Tanzania
Mobile: +255-744897325
Office: +255 23-262-5164
Fax: +255-23-262-5312
mailto:ruhettah@yahoo.com
http://www.ihrdc.org