Doctors at Muhimbili Hospital went on strike over pay in November demanding that their starting salary should be raised substantially. On November 20th the government complied by raising junior doctors’ salaries by over 60% from Tsh. 226, 000 to Tsh. 420,000 and to Tsh. 1,141,000 from Tsh. 1,030,000 for specialists and consultant doctors. On November 25th the doctors rejected the award. The government then sacked 176 doctors, nurses and pharmacists and quickly moved to replace them with doctors from the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) and Ministry of Health. Heavily armed police stormed the hostels to evict the sacked junior doctors and the interns who were still at the hospital. Some retired doctors reported at the hospital for duty. When the striking doctors changed their minds and accepted the pay award, the government said it would consider only individual requests to return to duty. In an interview with The Express, MNH Managing Director Dr. David Treggoning said the hospital administration was forced to take the decision to sack the doctors but they had not wanted t do so.