Editorial comment
Assurances by Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga that Zimbabwe is in control of the Covid-19 pandemic would have been a source of great comfort if the reality on the ground supported these claims.
Chiwenga, who spoke on Friday in his capacity as Minister of Health and Child Care, dismissed as unfounded observations and statements by various stakeholders in the health sector that staff and facilities in the country are strained and no longer able to handle the pressure brought upon them by the pandemic. These were all lies, Chiwenga said.
There have been many instances, however, where people have gone public about their failure to secure medical services from the few public health institutions that are designated to deal with Covid-19 cases. Even the government spokesperson, Ndavaningi Mangwana, communicated on social media confirming that Zimbabwe’s health institutions are stretched to the limit and no longer have the capacity, including bedding accommodation, to handle Covid-19 cases.
The government has picked a few health institutions around the country and equipped them for dealing with Covid-19 cases. These institutions have, however, not been adequately equipped for the task with many found without such essentials as ventilators and oxygen while many of them complain of a critical shortage of staff.
Even then, the existing health centres designated for Covid-19 are too few to handle the country’s rising infection numbers. There have been calls for government to decentralise this service and allow people who do not live in cities to access this health service as well.
The Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association last week implored the government to set up testing centres and treatment clinics out in the countryside.
Chiwenga, however, on Friday threw out this concern as a politically inclined exaggeration by social media. Even as he confirms the infection rate has risen alarmingly, the Health minister says most of the sick people are treating themselves at home where they should self-isolate.
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The vice-president seems not to take the daily rise in infections as an issue requiring urgent attention at all. He says: “…if the need arises in future, my ministry may consider options of increasing facilities currently designated for Covid-19 or designate more hospitals to take in patients.”
As for now, he says, the outcry over inadequate facilities and a need to spread out testing and treatment services is nothing but “embellished social media allegations by some pen-mercenaries”.
This kind of attitude, coming from the minister of Health who is also a member of the country’s presidency, is quite frightful.
Even without this pandemic, Zimbabwe’s health delivery system is known to be largely dysfunctional. So we urge the country’s leadership to shake out of this slumber and act responsibly to avoid needless loss of lives.
