Government spokesman Nick Mangwana wrote on Twitter that medical professionals should continue to provide emergency services during the strike.
Other countries including neighboring South Africa and Zambia limit health workers’ strikes but impose less severe penalties, such as layoffs, work suspensions or pay cuts.
Frequent and weeks-long strikes by healthcare workers for years have put a strain on Zimbabwe’s public health facilities, which are already in disrepair due to deteriorating infrastructure and lack of medicine.
Public health workers argue that their salaries — about $100 a month for many — and the lack of basic equipment make their jobs untenable.
The South African nation, once boasting some of the best public healthcare facilities and staff in Africa, is now grappling with a brain drain as nurses and doctors search for opportunities. better than elsewhere, mainly in the UK.
