Zimbabwe was plunged into another crisis on Wednesday as medical personnel at public hospitals and customs officials downed tools, citing fears over exposure to the deadly coronavirus due to lack of protective measures.
The Zimbabwe Doctors Hospital Association (ZDHA) announced on Wednesday that its members had withdrawn their services due to lack of protective clothing to handle coronavirus patients.
In a notice to the government, the ZDHA said doctors at public hospital would not be able to “continue carrying out their duties with immediate effect” until the government improves their working conditions.
The doctors claimed that they run the risk of contracting coronavirus due to the collapse of Zimbabwe’s health delivery system, which has seen public hospitals operating with basics such as gloves and other protective material.
The industrial action by the doctors came as the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority Trade Union announced that its members operating from the Robert Mugabe International Airport had downed tools on Wednesday, also citing lack of measures to protect them from contracting coronavirus.
The union said, by the nature of their jobs, customs officials face one of the greatest risks of contracting the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease and therefore need to be protected by their employer.
The high number of travellers that the customs officials are in touch with every day makes their job risk, the union said.
Zimbabwe officially has three cases of coronavirus and one of the patients, a prominent journalist who had just returned from the United States in early March, died on Monday.
JN/APA