With the coronavirus cases surging in Zimbabwe nurses have vowed to continue with their strike if their demands are not met leaving patients stranded. Zimbabwe recorded 99 new cases yesterday bringing the total of confirmed cases to 4 748. The number of deaths remained at 104 deaths. In a bid to coerce nurses back to work the Health Services Board has struck those who are striking off the payroll but it seems this has not worked.

We are still on strike and we are on day 52. The majority of public hospitals are literally closed and patients are being referred to private health centres.

Some patients are actually dying because they do not afford to pay the forex charges at the private hospitals, but as nurses, we cannot call off the strike at this stage.

Government has not done anything to meet our demands which are US dollar-pegged salaries or provision of adequate personal protective equipment.

Actually the skeletal staff of nurses which is attending to emergency cases at the hospitals does not have adequate PPE.

Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA) president Enock Dongo