Doctors, nurses and teachers went on strike today in Zimbabwe to protest their low pay, amid a new financial crisis in the country, writes Lusa news agency.

According to the publication, health care workers gathered with placards outside the offices of the Health Services Council at one of the largest hospitals in the country.

Riot police were stationed on the hospital grounds, while patients were left unattended in the hallways or outside.

"Health workers are underpaid. They are struggling to make ends meet," said Tapiwanashe Kusotera, leader of the health sector union.

Nurses in Zimbabwe earn 18,000 Zimbabwean dollars (52 euros) per month. Teachers earn about $75 (71 euros) per month.

"Our Health Services Board, which is our employer, and the Ministry of Health have totally refused to talk to the employees," said the head of the National Nurses Association, Enock Dongo.

The government indicated last week that it would double the salaries of all civil servants, but Dongo said that no formal offer had been made.

Teachers called for a five-day strike today, according to a statement from a teachers' union.

"We cannot continue to be an embarrassment to our community because of the poverty that the government considers as part of our working life," he wrote.

Zimbabwe's economy is in deep crisis, including a withdrawal of international donors due to unsustainable debt.

The invasion of Ukraine has aggravated the situation, as Russia is the main supplier of wheat and chemicals used in Zimbabwe's agriculture.

Inflation hit 131% in May, reviving memories of hyperinflation more than a decade ago. Prices were out of control and the central bank issued a $100 trillion note in 2008, which has since become a collector's item.

At the time, the government abandoned its local currency for the US dollar and the South African rand as official currencies. But in 2019 the Zimbabwean dollar was reintroduced, quickly regaining its value.

Zimbabwe, the former breadbasket of southern Africa, has struggled for the past two decades in an unending economic crisis born of the forced eviction of white farmers in a contested land reform and compounded by widespread corruption.

Source: Lusa