Zimbabwe Doctors Strike Over Poor Hospital Conditions
CHURCH: Senior doctors in Zimbabwe are refusing to work to protest a deteriorating conditions in public hospitals. And more than 400 junior medical officers were fired by the government after they protested poor salaries. Doctors say the situation is so dire. It's a "silent genocide". CNN's Farai Sevenzo has the details.</s>FARAI SEVENZO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Zimbabwe's senior doctor's association announced Wednesday that they too would be dropping down their tools and they're not assisting in the public sector hospitals. Those are the clinics and major -- a general public hospitals that the very poorest of society in Zimbabwe rely on for their health care. They cited many things and were scathing about the government's inaction at the Ministry of Health in providing basic tools of their trade such as syringes, rubber gloves, for them to do their work. They also bemoaned a lack of medicines for basic health care. This, of course, brings to the head of what has been going on for the last two months in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, where a junior doctors. Those are the very people who would just finish medicine school and are about to complete their professional qualifications to become doctors who too are down their tools as doctors is saying that they cannot live on the wages that they're being given. They are trying to fight, they say triple-digit inflation and, of course, Zimbabwe has moved into dire economic straits at the moment. With the United States dollar being dropped as that the currency of U.S. and the Zimbabwe dollar being adopted. Of course, these loggerheads between the health professionals and the government has also affected nurses, and now senior doctors. It remains to be seen how the government will react. But we know for sure that they have fired those senior doctors. And the senior doctors are now saying that some of them were even given their letters of notice as they completed their theater operations. This remains a story that's going to affect many people of poor health in Zimbabwe. Farai Servenzo, CNN, Nairobi.</s>CHURCH: Meanwhile, Cuban doctors are back home from Bolivia after some of them were accused of aiding protesters after former President Evo Morales resigned the doctors deny these charges. CNN's Patrick Oppmann has the details.</s>PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hundreds of Cuban medical professionals are returning home from Bolivia, following a change in the government there. That's not just hurting the Cuban government's sense of pride, but also, their pocketbook.</s>OPPMANN: This violent street protests over allegations of a stolen election in Bolivia forced President Evo Morales to resign and flee into exile the aftershocks have been felt as far away as Cuba. Morales was one of Latin America's longest-serving leftist heads of state and a stalwart ally to the Cuban government. Immediately after Morales, the Bolivian government detained six Cubans working on a Cuban government medical mission in that country. Accusing them of participating in the unrest. Eventually, they were released and sent back to Cuba with over 700 other Cuban doctors and medical staff we've been working there. These last few days have been tough, very stressful for the whole medical brigade. This Cuban doctor told us. We've been accused of things we're not guilty of. We only went to Bolivia to provide health care and better care to the Bolivian patients. The shift in power in Bolivia is not just the loss of an ally for Cuba, but the loss of a key source of revenue. Cuba earns millions of dollars by sending government trained doctors to work abroad. Medical services have become the communist-run islands number one export. The Trump administration claims those medical professionals are the victims of exploitation. And in some cases, they've alleged without evidence that some are even spies.</s>MIKE POMPEO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: And the Bolivian government announced Friday the expulsion of hundreds of Cuban officials for their country it was the right thing to do. Cuba wasn't sending doctors and officials to Bolivia to help the Bolivian people, but rather to prop-up of pro-Cuba regime headed by Evo Morales, who sought to maintain his grip on power through electoral fraud. Bolivia now joins Brazil and Ecuador in recognizing the Cuban threat to freedom. In each case, these governments free of outside interference have acted to protect their own national sovereignty and to -- and to defend their own citizen's interests.</s>OPPMANN: In the past year, new governments in Brazil and Ecuador also sent Cuban doctors home. Slashing revenue for the Cuban government just as U.S. sanctions impact the island's economy is never-before. Cuba trades its doctors for oil from Venezuela. But U.S. sanctions on the ships that bring that all have led to some of the worst lines for fuel that Cubans have seen in years. Now, Cuban officials say they are facing an energy crisis. The Cuban government hopes leftist governments in Mexico and Argentina will invite Cuban doctors there. These Cuban doctors returning from Bolivia, said they are leaving behind communities that needed them.</s>RUBEN MARTI CAPOTE, DOCTOR FOR CUBA: They realized that when we left, they're going to be helpless, he says. Without any medical attention or much less care. Much of the consultations were done by the Cuban medical brigade. Previous U.S. administrations praised Cuban's medical diplomacy. Now, Washington sees these returning Cuban doctors as a victory.</s>OPPMANN: Now, the Trump administration claims that they are not pressuring governments like Bolivia's to send back the Cuban doctors. But they do say that this is a key way to pressure the Cuban government and counter Cuban influence in the region. Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.</s>CHURCH: Russian leader Vladimir Putin is going for a new image in his 2020 calendar photos. Transforming from a shirtless macho man to a more dignified statesman. We'll have the details for you when we come back.