Police Arrest Doctors Over Strike Plans

Police across the country have started arresting members of the Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) after the group announced a ‘go-slow’ strike on Friday.

It follows RDAZ president Dr Brian Sampa’s demands that the government recruit an additional 500 graduate doctors and pay the salaries owed to 309 physicians who have worked during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The group is also demanding the creation of new positions for senior doctors who have continued to receive the same salaries as junior doctors, despite their wealth of experience. 

In a video shared to Twitter, Dr Sampa revealed that doctors are being arrested across the country, including RDAZ’s secretary general Dr Mukula Chikonde, who was detained at Ndola Central Hospital on Sunday. 

“This is unacceptable. This form of intimidation is getting too far. We’ve got calls coming from the police wanting to detain a number of doctors,” Dr Sampa said. 

Meanwhile, police Inspector General Kakoma Kanganja has threatened to arrest Dr Sampa himself, as well as all those who attended Zoom meetings hosted by the RDAZ.

The police claim that the meetings were in violation of the recently enacted Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act. 

Several civil society groups, including the Chapter One Foundation, ActionAid Zambia and Transparency International Zambia have now signed an open letter condemning Inspector Kanganja’s threat, terming it “an abrogation of the citizen rights of expression and association”. 

Medical students at University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka have also joined in the go-slow in solidarity with Dr Sampa and the RDAZ.

Meanwhile UPND Alliance presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema has condemned the police’s actions, observing that it is “insane” for the government to threaten doctors at a time of global pandemic.

“It is saddening that with the high unemployment rate, political instability and the Covid-19 pandemic the country is facing, there is a looming go slow by doctors in our health system, and this is due to insincerity among those in positions of authority,” HH said.

He called on the government to honour its obligations to the doctors and pay them the salaries they are owed, lest thousands of innocent Zambians suffer as a result of the go-slow.