Zanu PF has clearly failed to fulfill its electoral promises made in the run up to the July 31 2013 polls.
BY FELUNA NLEYA
More than a year after the Zanu PF resounding victory, Zimbabweans are complaining that President Robert Mugabe appears to have forgotten about his party’s promises to the people.
Some of the promises included improving the working conditions of government workers, creating over two million jobs, revamping the health sector, improving the country’s housing delivery system and resuscitating the country’s economy.
One of the promises — that of an improved health delivery system — remains a mirage. In fact, what is evident a year after the elections is a health sector that has fallen deeper into problems than before.
Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said all the positive health gains that were achieved in the first years of Independence have since been eroded under the Zanu PF government.
“Most of the positive health gains that Zimbabwe achieved in the first years of Independence have been eroded,” Rusike said. “Health workers have become more demoralised, frustrated and overloaded, resulting in many experienced personnel leaving the country in search of greener pastures and better working conditions.”
He added: “Our hospitals are now dilapidated due to lack of maintenance and most hospital equipment is now old, obsolete and in need of replacement. As a result, Zimbabweans are now travelling to foreign countries seeking basic medical care, thereby spending a lot of foreign currency.”
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Rusike said nothing has been done to increase the number of community health workers and as a result, a single health worker was now obliged to cover several villages. The health workers are having to walk or cycle long distances with very little time to give villagers individual attention inspite of receiving poor and inconsistent stipends.
“Maternal morbidity and mortality remains unacceptably high as government is not enforcing fully its policy on user fees,” Rusike said.
In Zanu PF’s election manifesto, the party proclaimed that the: “Overarching goal of the people is the improvement of the health delivery system to attain health for all.”
“This is particularly important in view of the numerous challenges facing Zimbabwe’s health sector such as shortage of skilled professionals and health care staff, an eroded infrastructure with ill-equipped hospitals or clinics and lack of critical medicines and commodities.”
Rusike said: “The supply of drugs and medicines has, in the past year, remained poor with the majority of patients unable to buy the prescriptions due to poverty. We need to address the causes of ill health as people continue to go back to the same environments that would have made them sick in the first place.” He said funding for the health sector remained poor, hence the country had lost track of the Millennium Development Goals, including most of its health targets.
Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) secretary general, Farai Makoni said working as a doctor in Zimbabwe was difficult because of limited resources. “Doctors conduct their duties well but at times they are frustrated by the fact that there will be no resources at the hospital,” Makoni said.
“The work of a doctor is burdened by the non-availability of resources. For example, an orthopaedic surgeon attends to 25 patients at night and in many cases the doctors will write prescriptions for the patients to go out to buy the required equipment and drugs before they can be attended to.”
He added: “For example, during the night at Parirenyatwa Hospital, doctors face the challenge of unavailability of drugs because the hospital pharmacy is very poorly stocked. Moreover, it closes at 10pm only to open at 8am, a development that has seen lives being lost unnecessarily.”
“As part of its health for all policy, Zanu PF should address these challenges as a matter of urgency.” Furthermore, Makoni said the doctors were not being paid enough to match their work. Recently, junior doctors went on strike demanding a salary increase which government has failed to honour, despite making a pledge.
A patient at Parirenyatwa hospital said the standards at the public health institution had gone down so drastically that they now feared for their lives.
In Bulawayo, a lady who said her mother was admitted at Mpilo Central hospital said the standards at the institute had also gone down in a frightening manner.
“The state of the government hospitals is bad,” she said. “When we came in, we were told to bring in a blanket for her. Some patients were sleeping on the floor. It is really bad.” “We also had to buy medication so that she could be treated. She is on specialist treatment and there is only one doctor to attend to her.”
“I do not think anything has been done to improve the health delivery system. Things have become worse.” Josephine Tafara, a Highfield resident, said the situation in the state-run hospitals was deplorable.
“The government has failed us badly,” Tafara said. “These hospitals are now death traps. I have been in many hospitals across the country and the situation is so dire. The environment in hospitals is making sick people even worse.
“Zanu PF has failed to address the economic and therefore health situation in the country and most diseases that are killing people in this country are stress-related. Unless good decisions are made at the very top level, people will continue to die from manageable and curable diseases.”
DorcasGavera from Ruwa said: “Government hospitals have led to high mortality rates. I think the workers there are just not motivated and they are very negligent when it comes to taking care of patients.”
“The Zanu PF government should pay workers better salaries to motivate them so that we get better services. Another contributing factor is that most of the health facilities don’t have the necessary equipment to treat patients, even basic equipment,” Gavera said.
“Something really needs to be done. People are made to buy their own drugs and other accessories to get basic procedures done. That is just pathetic. Health is not a priority to Zanu PF at all. All they want is to enrich themselves!”
