Medical Doctors Union of Malawi (MDUM) and the Society of Medical Doctors (SMD) have threaten to go on strike if the government will stick to its decision of not recruiting 51 recently graduated medical doctors due to financial constraints.

In a joint statement signed by the two bodies made available to faceofMalawi, the Doctors says the move taken by government displays lack of seriousness in dealing with challenges rocking the health sector.

The two bodies observed that Malawi is the only country that perpetually failing to meet the target of 23 doctors/10,000 population necessary to deliver essential health services.

“This is retrogressive in a country that is still struggling to meet the minimum acceptable numbers of medical doctors to safely serve the populace.

We have continuously been told that the leading factors in human resource shortages in health are inadequate outputs from health training institutions amongst others including emigration, resignations and deaths. Now that there are visibly significant improvements in the outputs from the College of Medicine, it is inexcusable for government to fail to absorb them,” reads part of the statement.

In the Statement the two bodies have advised the government through its Department of Human Resource Management and Development to immediately recruit the said doctors or face industrial strike.

“Failure to do so within 14 days will warrant an industrial action by all medical doctors in the country,” adds the statement.

Meanwhile government is yet to respond to the quarries raised by MDUM and SMD.