09/12/2025
VOLUNTEER DOCTORS TO DOWN TOOLS
The Doctors volunteering will stop offering their services effective 19th December 2025 saying Government has failed to honour its promise.
Resident Doctors Association of Zambia has announced the decision in a statement below and called on Ministry of Health to make adjustments.
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The Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) issues this statement with heavy hearts and a profound sense of responsibility. This communication is not made lightly, nor is it driven by politics or external influence. It is anchored in the undeniable reality that hundreds of volunteer doctors, young, committed, patriotic health workers have been stretched beyond the limits of human endurance while waiting for a promise that remains unfulfilled.
Earlier this year, following a nationwide halt in service delivery by unemployed health workers, the Ministry of Health assured all stakeholders that the recruitment of doctors and other health workers would be completed within 2025. This assurance was further reinforced through the Presidential Address, which restored hope not only among volunteer doctors but also among communities who rely on these essential services. In good faith and out of deep loyalty to the Zambian people, volunteer doctors returned to their posts. They did so not because conditions had improved, but because lives were at stake. Their commitment has been unwavering, their sacrifice unquestionable.
Yet today, with only 23 days remaining in the year, that commitment has not been met with the clarity or action it deserves. There is no roadmap, no communication and no indication that the earlier promise will be honoured in time. This silence has become a source of emotional and professional injury, not only to those who returned out of hope, but also to the patients who look to them for care. The situation has reached a point where these young doctors feel abandoned and RDAZ cannot remain indifferent to their struggle.
Therefore, after wide consultations and with deep regret, the Resident Doctors Association of Zambia informs all stakeholders that all volunteer doctors across the country will down tools effective Friday, 19th December 2025. This decision is not a strike against the nation, it is a cry for dignity, for clarity and for fairness. It is a response to a prolonged uncertainty that no health professional should ever be subjected to. Our healthcare system depends on human beings, real people who also feel hunger, exhaustion, anxiety and despair. For too long, these volunteer doctors have carried a burden that should never have been theirs alone.
To the public, RDAZ asks for your understanding. These young doctors have treated your children, your parents, your families often without a salary, often without rest, but always with compassion. Their withdrawal is not an act of abandonment but a plea to ensure that the system they serve becomes stronger, not weaker. No health system can thrive on unpaid labour. No professional can continue indefinitely without security, recognition or a future.
RDAZ therefore advises all health facilities across the country to begin making immediate adjustments to their staff timetables and duty rosters to minimise disruptions in service delivery. This action is necessary to maintain stability during this period and to ensure that essential services continue where possible.
As an Association representing both fully employed doctors and those serving as volunteers, RDAZ recognises the moral obligation to speak on behalf of colleagues who do not share the same security and stability. Their pain is real, their disappointment justified and their need for answers urgent.
The Association therefore calls upon all relevant authorities to provide immediate communication, clear timelines and a definitive pathway forward. The nation owes these young doctors more than gratitude, it owes them action.
The Association continues to stand for professionalism, integrity and the welfare of both health workers and the Zambian people. Urgent engagement and resolution are needed for the sake of our doctors, our patients and the future of healthcare in this country.
Dr. Paul Chibwe
President
Resident Doctors Association of Zambia
Source: Zambian Eye News
