BY MOSES MATENGA/HARRIET CHIKANDIWA JUNIOR doctors will now be conscripted into the army soon after graduating in a move observers said was aimed at militarising the health sector and stopping the health practitioners from going on strike as well as leaving the country for greener pastures. According to a new order released by government on September 28, junior doctors must now be recruited as military doctors for them to be able to work in government hospitals. Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, who is also Health minister, is a former soldier, while ministry’s permanent secretary, Jasper Chimedza, is Air Force of Zimbabwe Air Commodore. The development comes at a time over 230 medical students, who have just finished their five-year training, programme were about to be posted to public hospitals as junior resident medical officers (JRMOs) where they were supposed to serve for three years in order to be able to be certified to run their own private practices. In a letter dated September 28 addressed to Chimedza, the Health Service Board said government through the Finance ministry had approved the hiring of 407 JRMOs, but only on condition that some of them are appointed under the Defence Forces Service Commission. “The Health Service Board was in August 2020 granted concurrence by the Ministry of Finance to appoint 407 junior resident medical officers on the conditions that some of them are appointed by the Defence Forces Services Commission,” part of the letter read. “It is noted that 230 junior resident medical officers (JRMO) are in their final examination and will be ready to be absorbed in the service upon successful graduation.” The letter added: “In view of the Treasury concurrence, the Health Service Board is recommending that the 230 JRMO be employed under the Zimbabwe Defence Forces who indicated that they are willing and ready to do so.” The country has been experiencing recurrent strikes by doctors demanding better salaries and working conditions. Last year, doctors were on strike for over four months and only ended the job action after the intervention of corporates such as Econet. The doctors went on strike again last month, joining nurses who were on strike for over three months demanding COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) and US dollar salaries. But Chiwenga, after taking over as Health minister, forced the closure of three programmes at the University of Zimbabwe’s medical school where the graduate trainee doctors would go for specialist training. Chiwenga also tightened rules for doctors seeking to work abroad. It will now take doctors three signatures from the State, likely hostile signatories, to secure the “Certificate of Good Standing” which used to be issued by the Medical and Dental Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights secretary Norman Matara said the new measures constituted an attack on the health profession. “We just feel it is an issue of oppression and continuous attack of the health sector in Zimbabwe. We feel that qualified do