Staff Writer
Zimbabwean government has signed into law the controversial Health Services Act despite widespread condemnation.
The new law states that any individual who is a member of the governing body of any trade union or representative body of members of the Health Service which incites or organizes any collective job action contrary to subsection shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level 4 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.
“If the Health Service Commission alleges that an individual member is in breach of subsection (4)(a) or (b), the Commission shall communicate a written complaint against that member to the appropriate disciplinary authority in accordance with the Health Service Regulations, 2006, published in Statutory Instrument 117 of the 2006 (or any other law that may be substituted for the same).
“The disciplinary authority shall —
“(a) have the power to discipline that member (and report the matter to the relevant council in terms of the Health Professions Act (Chapter 27:19) where necessary; and
(b) be deemed to be seized with the complaint from the date that it received it, and conduct and complete the disciplinary hearing on the complaint within a reasonable time; and
“(c) communicate to the Commission of the its decision in writing.”
Health experts described the new law as “undemocratic and not consultative.”
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