Senior Zimbabwean doctors joined hundreds of junior colleagues in a mass walkout this week, warning of a "silent genocide" caused by dire conditions in hospitals.

The public sector doctors demanded the reinstatement of 440 junior colleagues, who were fired after downing tools in a pay dispute in September this year.

It was unclear how many senior doctors had gone on strike.

A severe economic downturn has forced inflation to triple digits in Zimbabwe, but salaries have failed to keep pace with price hikes, pushing many services beyond the reach of most people.

Doctors in the public health system say the value of their pay shrank more than 15-fold in the past year - a legacy of economic mismanagement under ex-president Robert Mugabe.

Many government workers - junior doctors among them - have stopped work because they cannot afford to commute.