Clinicians and Nurses at Zomba central hospital, on Monday, downed their tools in an effort to force management to pay their salaries and promotion arrears.

A visit by YFM online at the hospital revealed that nurses and clinicians were just loitering and chatting around the hospital premises.

According to one of the Clinicians, who opted for anonymity, said the arrears in question dates back to 2014 and that management at the referral hospital has been ignoring to address the issue.

The arrears that the staff are demanding include salaries and promotions.

According to the nurses, on several occasions, they have been engaging the management at the referral hospital but their demands have been given a deaf ear.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Joshua Malango, expressed ignorance on the sit-in and asked for more time before commenting on the matter.

This comes few days after President Peter Mutharika directed the Ministry of Health to recruit 2000 health workers to assist in the fight of COVID-19 pandemic.