77 Zimbabwe doctors fired after two-month strike over salary woes

Junior and middle level doctors at Zimbabwe state hospitals that have been on strike for two months to press for higher pay have been discharged after disciplinary hearings. Picture: AP Photo/Themba Hadebe

Harare - Junior and middle level doctors at Zimbabwe state hospitals that have been on strike for two months to press for higher pay have been discharged after disciplinary hearings.

Last month, a Zimbabwean court has ordered doctors on a the strike over pay to return to work within 48 hours, after a ruling that their boycott was illegal.

Zimbabwe state workers are expected to go ahead with Wednesday's street protest after the government failed to give in to their demand for U.S. dollar-indexed salaries to cushion them against soaring inflation, union officials said on Tuesday.

The Health Service Board, which employs the doctors, had asked the court to force them to get back to work, arguing that they were not allowed to strike because they provided an essential service.

The doctors have already said an offer to raise their allowances by 60% was "ridiculous" as it would take their monthly salaries to around 1 700 Zimbabwe dollars ($111), well below their demand of a 400% salary hike.

Zimbabwe is grappling with its worst economic crisis in a decade, amid triple-digit inflation, rolling power cuts and shortages of U.S. dollars, medicines and fuel.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is under pressure to deliver on promises he made during last year's election campaign to revive the economy by pushing through economic reforms, attracting foreign investment to create jobs and rebuilding collapsing infrastructure.