All Samoan doctors working in public hospitals have resigned following an unsuccessful strike for better conditions.
They quit after defying an ultimatum by the prime minister to return to work by this afternoon or face dismissal.
The 25 hospital doctors had been on strike for two months and disagreed with a recommendation that their salaries remain unchanged.
A spokesman for the doctors, Dr Viali Lameko, says they met their lawyers and decided to leave the public health sector.
"The whole association decided today to put in a resignation, a mass resignation to the Samoa Ministry of Health and that's what we have done."
A hospital official says some foreign doctors continue to maintain a skeleton service.
