Lusaka - State doctors in Zambia have returned to work a week after going on strike, but say the government has yet to resolve the problems facing the health sector, their union announced on Monday.
“We would like to inform the general public that the work stoppage by Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) has been suspended in the interest of our patients,” the union's acting president, Amon Ngongola, said at a news conference in the capital, Lusaka.
Ngongola said that despite resuming work, doctors are still unhappy and de-motivated and are seeking the intervention of President Rupiah Banda.
“We advise the president to address this persistent problem with utmost urgency,” Ngongola said.
The doctors went on strike last Monday after talks with the government broke down.
Ngongola did not take questions on the union's specific demands, but strikes by doctors to secure better pay and working conditions are common.
Last year, medical doctors went on an indefinite strike, during which a woman gave birth on the sidewalks of the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka.
A picture of the woman giving birth was given to the Post Newspaper, which did not publish it but sent it to Vice President George Kunda and women’s groups, causing an uproar.
The news editor of the paper, Chansa Kabwela, was arrested for spreading pornography, but was later acquitted. - Sapa-AFP