Could this be our future?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2008/November/international_November1263.xml§ion=international

Zimbabwe police ‘beat doctors, nurses’ as cholera kills 36(DPA)

18 November 2008

HARARE/JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwean riot police beat striking doctors and nurses at a Harare hospital on Tuesday and sent them running for cover in wards, witnesses said, as reports emerged of dozens more dead in a fast-spreading cholera outbreak.

The protest took place at Parirenyatwa general hospital where around 200 doctors and nurses, from that hospital and Harare General hospital, held a demonstration to demand better pay and equipment.

Witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa they saw police armed with assault rifles, tear gas and batons beat some of the protestors. The protesters carried placards saying: ‘We want drugs in our hospital’ and ‘enough is enough!’

Parirenyatwa, the country's largest hospital, and Harare General are both effectively closed because of a long-lasting strike over pay and conditions by staff.

Observers say the city's health services have effectively ground to a halt as the country's economic disaster accelerates.

The doctors and nurses are demanding to be paid in foreign currency, instead of the near worthless Zimbabwe dollar. They are also demanding the restoration of basic equipment levels.

[valerief]

1. Sounds about right. Blackwater will rule. nt

[Joe the Liberal]

2. If McPalin were elected then yes it would.....

Thankfully we dodged that bullet.