Police officers prevent doctors and nurses at Zimbabwe's Parirenyatwa Hospital from protesting

Anti-riot police officers prevented doctors and nurses at Zimbabwe's Parirenyatwa Hospital from protesting the country's poor health system on 18 November 2008. Approximately 700 health care workers attempted to march outside the hospital over the lack of medical supplies, equipment and drugs and to demand higher salaries. Reports indicate that the anti-riot police officers assaulted the protesters with batons, but there were no casualties or arrests. The protest comes as an ongoing cholera outbreak in the country has killed at least 130 people in recent months. Zimbabwe once had the best health care system in Africa, but it has recently collapsed due to the country's hyperinflation rate and political crisis.