ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the health policies advocated by the post-independence government which had the potential for reducing medical autonomy. The new government’s commitment to formal desegregation and egalitarianism of health services was partly realised in 1981, with the repeal of the Medical Services Act, giving access to anyone, including non-paying patients, to former ‘whites only’ hospitals. The government expressed its opposition to the private medical sector which was subsidised by the public sector, gave rise to maldistribution of health institutions and personnel, and inculcated the ‘wrong attitudes’ to young Zimbabwean medical graduates. The fragmentation of medical profession by employment sector, role, rank in the professional hierarchy, speciality, gender, race and country of origin remains in post-colonial Zimbabwe and, in fact, the number of professional associations has increased. The government managed to vertically and horizontally integrate most of the public health services which had been uncoordinated, including rural health services, urban municipal services, government hospitals and other public health institutions.
