news in depth:BY MOSES MATENGA
When Moses Mukacha rushed his 74-year-old father to Chidamoyo Hospital in Hurungwe, Mashonaland West province, he thought it was going to be one of those routine visits to the health care centre.
Mukacha’s father had become a regular visitor to the hospital where he was receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment.
Of late he had appeared to be on the mend, but to the family’s shock he died at the hospital on Friday. He did not receive any treatment at the health facility.
“With a bit of help from doctors, he would have survived because his illness was not life-threatening,” a devastated Mukacha said.
“We had just taken him to hospital as usual and we didn’t anticipate that we would walk back home without him.”
To the family’s surprise, hours after their father died, they were ordered to take his body away as the mortuary at the hospital was not working due to power cuts.
Thousands of kilometres away, a Manicaland family was grieving like the Mukachas after their daughter died while giving birth.
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“My sister died while giving birth because there were no doctors to attend to her,” said Allison Mugadza from Mutare.
“I am angry at the government because they seem oblivious of the genocide that is unfolding at the country’s hospitals due to the strike by doctors.”
Medical professionals believe that thousands of people are dying prematurely after operations at public hospitals were suspended after doctors went on strike in September.
The doctors, who are demanding salaries benchmarked against the United States dollar, have vowed not to return to work until their demands are met.
On the other hand, the government is using strong arm tactics to try and force the doctors to return to work with 211 medical practitioners having been fired in the past fortnight over the job boycott.
The biggest victims, however, have been the patients, as the hospitals have stopped admitting sick people.
This has seen many people dying in their homes without treatment amid warnings that the situation has reached crisis level.
Tapiwa Mungofa, the Zimbabwe Medical Doctors’ Association treasurer-general, said the situation in hospitals was dire and people were dying prematurely in their numbers.
“When we checked, we realised the situation is dire and in several hospitals, patients are not being admitted except in emergency situations,” he said.
“Mortuaries are not taking bodies because of the electricity challenges and people are dying. We are failing to get figures.
“Efforts to get the figures were fruitless, but it is obvious that if a hospital was getting a certain number of people to attend to [and they are not admitting any], people will start dying at home and people are definitely dying.”
Zimbabwe Association for Doctors for Human Rights spokesperson Fortune Nyamande said there was a marked increase in maternal mortality and some critical departments in hospitals had shut down.
“The situation is more desperate than is being portrayed,” he said.
“People are dying and it is time for all concerned parties to sit down and map the way forward. This is negligence on the part of the minister of Health. You can’t allow such a catastrophe.”
Health and Child Care minister Obadiah Moyo has been criticised for pushing for the mass expulsion of the striking doctors instead of addressing their demands.
Some public hospitals are said to have already lost their entire complement of doctors due to the purge.
“They think firing doctors is the solution but you can’t do that without an alternative,” Nyamande added.
“Doctors can’t be produced overnight and Moyo is misinforming his colleagues in Cabinet on the gravity of the situation.
“In other countries, the minister would have been fired or would have quit and allowed someone, who is able to deliver to come in.”
Former Health and Child Care minister Henry Madzorera equated the situation at Zimbabwe’s hospitals to a “silent genocide”.
Madzorera, himself a medical doctor, said many people had already lost their lives “unnecessarily.”
“The situation has been bad in the last two months plus. It has been very, very, bad,” he said.
“A lot is happening that is not being published. People are dying unnecessarily, people are dying and it is serious.
“We need to measure the impact of the strike and failure by government to respond timeously to a legitimate question by the doctors.
“It is going to get worse because now the problem will be prolonged.
“The crisis will not come to an end. Where are they going to get doctors to replace these ones?
“This means Zimbabweans are going to continue to die and suffer unnecessarily for a very long period of time.”
Madzorera said the decision to fire the doctors backfire as the government would not be able to attract expatriates because no one wants to work in a country that does not respect the concerns of labour.
“These doctors are not desperate,” the former minister added. “They can get jobs anywhere in the world and they have started making moves and no one can just wait knowing they will eventually get fired.
“It is all because of government’s ineptitude and the brain drain is going to happen again. The United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, Canada and several other countries are waiting for our doctors.
“We are jumping from a frying pan into the fire now.”
Madzorera said the situation in hospitals was getting out of hand and urged the government to stop grandstanding.
“This is what people are referring to as silent genocide by government. It is genocide, the government is killing people. People are not being admitted to hospitals,” he said.
“Right now our hospitals are empty, not because there are no sick people in the villages but people are just staying at home and waiting to die.
“People are dying of malaria, TB, HIV, diabetes — conditions that can be managed and are curable and people shouldn’t be dying of such.”
“Even maternal and child health facilities are suffering.
“Women are dying in labour and people are looking for help from traditional midwives.
“It’s really genocide. It is not silent. It is not a silent genocide because people are talking about it. “It is a very loud genocide that is happening.”
The government says there could be more disciplinary hearings if the striking doctors do not return to work.
