HARARE - Zimbabwean nurses and doctors based in South Africa have come to the rescue of fellow citizens who are being barred from public hospitals and clinics.
The Operation Dudula movement is preventing immigrants from getting public healthcare, saying they are draining taxpayers' money, and South Africans should be helped first.
Medical professionals and civic organisations warn that this is putting people's lives at risk and reversing gains made especially against HIV and tuberculosis.
Forty Zimbabwean health professionals based in South Africa are helping desperate fellow migrants who are being blocked from using public health facilities.
Speaking from Johannesburg, the group's spokesperson says they have treated over 2,000 Zimbabweans so far.
But the health professionals are running out of resources.
An analyst says what the group is doing is nothing less than humanitarian assistance.
An estimated one million Zimbabweans are working and living in South Africa.