Doctors in Zimbabwe’s state hospitals have issued a two-week strike notice demanding to have their salaries paid in U.S. dollars and for supplies of personal protective equipment against COVID-19.<\/p>\n
“Our salaries as paid in the Zimbabwe dollar cannot sustain us anymore,” the Zimbabwe Senior Hospital Doctors Association said in a letter to the Ministry of Health, seen by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n
“The Zimbabwe dollar is so volatile and subject to inflationary pressures that make it unpredictable.”<\/p>\n
The doctors’ strike notice comes barely a week after bankers also issued demands to have part of their salaries paid in U.S. dollars in a bid to cushion them from soaring inflation and a depreciating currency.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe’s economy has been struggling for years, hit by massive inflation as well as food and fuel shortages.<\/p>\n
According to Bloomberg, the doctors want renumeration benchmarked to 2018 salaries that were in U.S. dollars and the matter resolved before July 29.<\/p>\n
Last month, Zimbabwe’s central bank began weekly foreign currency auctions in a bid to draw scarce foreign currency into the formal market.<\/p>\n
The Southern African country has reported 1,089 COVID-19 infections and 20 deaths, according to data from the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Doctors in Zimbabwe’s state hospitals have issued a two-week strike notice demanding to have their salaries paid in U.S. dollars and for supplies of personal protective equipment against COVID-19. “Our salaries as paid in the Zimbabwe dollar cannot sustain us anymore,” the Zimbabwe Senior Hospital Doctors Association said in a letter to the Ministry of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":25382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[894,1173],"class_list":["post-25378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-foreign-currency","tag-senior-doctors"],"yoast_head":"\n