Tanzania doctors suspend strike after president steps in

Working conditions They are demanding better payTanzanian doctors have suspended a nationwide strike after the country’s president met union representatives to defuse a row with government, the doctors association said on Monday.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Tanzanias President Jakaya Kikwete arrives for celebrations marking 50 years of the countryu2019s independence at the Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam. Net photo.

Working conditions They are demanding better payTanzanian doctors have suspended a nationwide strike after the country’s president met union representatives to defuse a row with government, the doctors association said on Monday.The more than 1,000-strong Medical Association of Tanzania (MAT) is demanding better pay and conditions and the sacking of Health Minister Hadji Mponda and his deputy, whom they accuse of being "enemies of doctors and the health sector as a whole”.Hundreds of doctors went on strike last week, ignoring a court order to return to work, forcing public hospitals across the country to turn away patients and suspend normal services."We would like to announce to the Tanzanian public that we are returning to work ... while the president addresses our demands,” MAT said in a statement emailed to Reuters on Monday.Tanzanian doctors earn a starting salary of 957,900 shillings a month, compared to members of parliament who earn about three times as much plus allowances.East African governments face mounting pressure from public sector workers and others over the rising cost of living.Earlier this month Kenya said it would sack 25,000 striking public health workers.