Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has inaugurated two boards of directors for the National Pharmaceuticals (Natpharm) and the Traditional Medical Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe
Chiwenga backs down on junior doctors
BY RICHARD MUPONDE
A MAJORITY of junior doctors have declined to be conscripted into the army and will now be deployed to public hospitals, it has emerged.
Vice-President and Health minister Constantino Chiwenga in September last year ordered that junior doctors be conscripted into the army for residency or housemanship.
This was viewed by observers as tantamount to militarisation of the health sector and aimed at stopping health practitioners from engaging in industrial action and leaving the country for greener pastures.
But
NewsDay understands that about 100 out of the 180 junior doctors have rejected undergoing military housemanship and government has climbed down on its earlier position and allowed them to serve in public hospitals.